SURF shop owner, Jean-Marc Tostee has always been environmentally conscientious and has a heart for making a positive change to the lives of others less fortunate.

The Durban North resident, who owns Surf HQ on Durban’s beachfront, has put out an appeal to the Durban community to donate their old wetsuits and bodyboards to a greater cause.

Tostee said the wetsuits are donated to a clinic in Manguzi in northern KZN where the material is used for refurbishing old wheelchairs using the stretchy padded material to make padded arm and seat covers for the wheelchairs and also used for making soft cushioned seatbelt straps for homemade baby-car seats.

“The spongy neoprene rubber from the wetsuits are cut into strips to use for making padded covers for old wheelchairs for patients with cerebral palsy and spinal injuries among others. It is about helping communities and at the same time upcyling non-recyclable materials so they don’t end up in landfills or the sea. I’m very keen to find more ways to repurpose and upcycle them.

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“A surfer friend of ours is a therapist at the community clinic at Manguzi near Kozi Bay which is a very impoverished area, she mentioned the project to me and that they needed neoprene. As a surfer I knew where to find that and I was only happy to help with a call-out to our awesome surf community. We collect up the throw-away wetsuits and send them to the clinic where the staff cut them up and fit the wheelchairs with springy neoprene fabric to help position and hold the body in place. It also helps with cushioning and comfort for young patients who are permanently in wheelchairs. We also use old bodyboards to create padded seats for wheelchairs,” he explained.

After his first post on the store’s Instagram account, donations of old boards and wetsuits began flooding into the store .

“I am so grateful to the community for all the support. After the first post we received more than 30 wetsuits and we immediately sent them off to Manguzi in the same week. Since then we have been receiving more every week and now been able to expand the initiative into other needy areas too. If you would like to support the appeal and bring in any throw away wetsuits, bodyboards or clothing just drop it all off at our store on 65 Sylvester Ntuli Road on Durban’s North beach and we’ll make sure everything is delivered to those who desperately need it,” he said.