GREEN QUEENS:

Through slow fashion, upcyling and green campaigns, each of these six women are doing their bit for the planet.

Six local eco-warriors who are upcycling, recycling and raising awareness

Roxy Louw

Roxy’s crusade is personal. ‘I started surfing when I was 12 and I love the ocean,’ she says. ‘This journey started for me when I was picked up by Oakley [eyewear] and started travelling the world. I’ve spent a lot of time on beaches over the years, and I’ve noticed a lot of plastic build-up. I recently went to Bali with Parley [an environmental organisation that drives awareness about plastic threats to the sea] for an ocean school project. It was the first time I’d been back in 10 years and I was shocked: as I was surfing and paddling, I was grabbing plastic. It’s just everywhere – the beaches are covered in plastic. Parley recycles the plastic and makes goodies from it.’

We’re facing the same problem in SA, says Roxy – but we’re much further behind in what we’re doing to address it. ‘There are a lot of initiatives in Bali – they’re working to ban plastic bags. I realised that we needed to make a change here. After the Parley beach clean-up in Bali, I noticed that straws were one of the biggest contributors to the problem. When I got back home, I thought about what I could do that would make the biggest impact in that area.’

Roxy and her fiancé, Sam Barton, started a campaign called Refuse the Straw, which urges patrons to say no to straws at restaurants and takeaway joints.

‘Straws are a luxury,’ Roxy says. ‘We don’t need them.’ On their website you can buy bamboo straws for R25 each – the money goes towards funding Roxy’s beach clean-ups. ‘We want to do about four beach clean-ups a year, in all the major cities. We also offer tips on the site, and there’s a video on my Instagram page (@roxylouw) on how to go plastic-free.’ ‘If everyone could make one small change, it would change the big picture.’