Rip Curl Team Riders, Surfrider Volunteers Clean Up Haleiwa Beach Park

After a few hours of work the volunteers collected four full bags of trash, weighing in at just under 100 pounds. While anyone can (and should) pick up rubbish, this event was the continuation of two major brands in surfing. It fell under the umbrella of Surfrider’s Surf Industry Coastal Defender program, which formed several years ago as a way for surf companies to demonstrate their support for Surfrider's mission, “acting as a coalition of businesses with shared stakes in protecting the places we all love and rely on — our ocean and coasts,” according to Surfrider. Rip Curl has been a part of the project since 2019. In 2024, as part of Rip Curl’s Coastal Defender Tour, the two brands organized beach cleanups at the Huntington Beach Pier in Los Angeles, Ala Moana Beach Park in Honolulu and the Ventura Pier in Ventura, California. Just another layer in the surfing’s latest B-Corp. 

“As companies that are deeply intertwined in the global surfing community, the Surf Industry Coastal Defenders are uniquely situated to speak to the immense value that clean water and healthy beaches provide to not only our communities and our lives as individuals, but our coastal economies,” reads Surfrider’s website. “As businesses whose livelihoods depend on unpolluted surf breaks, clean beaches not inundated with plastic pollution, and beach access for all people, the Surf Industry Coastal Defenders work alongside Surfrider to raise awareness, advocate for positive policies and legislation, and guide the industry in more sustainable directions.”