Win a holiday to Thassos with Make Holidays Greener

thassos

Here’s the chance to win a holiday to Thassos this September thanks to the Make Holidays Greener Campaign.

The campaign, backed by sustainability charity the Travel Foundation and the hotel and accommodation accreditation scheme Travelife, saw more than 1,000 travel staff and their customers come together to clean 106 beaches worldwide.

To be in with a chance of winning a sunny September holiday to Thassos courtesy of Sunvil Holidays, post a photo of your favourite beach by noon on August 28 on the Travelife Facebook page with the hashtag #greenerhols and tell them where the beach is and why it deserves to be kept pristine.

This year’s campaign has had a particular focus on keeping plastic waste off beaches as it is estimated that there are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating in our oceans, including cigarette ends, shopping bags, crisp packets and bottles.

Not only is the waste unsightly and causes damage to marine life but, as plastic does not biodegrade but just breaks down into tiny plastic microparticles, it is stealthily entering our own food chain.

The Make Holidays Greener campaign has five top holiday tips:

  • Take reusable bags and bottles with you 
  • Avoid unnecessary plastic straws
  • Use an ashtray on the beach and don’t drop cigarette butts
  • Remove packaging and recycle at home before you travel
  • Avoid bathroom products that contain microplastic particles

So far, this year’s campaign, which harnessed the support of 31 Travelife hotels and major tour operators such as Kuoni and TUI, has collected 33,708 pieces of litter, which has contributed, to 3,000 kg of rubbish in 766 rubbish bags.

Sarah Kollar, a co-ordinator at Ocean Conservancy who backed the campaign said: “By collecting, counting and tallying debris, it becomes apparent that ocean trash – no matter where it comes from – is not an ocean problem, but rather a people problem. The most common items collected during cleanups are those that we use every day. Single-use disposable items, often plastics, are collected by the thousands.”

For tourism, the plastic issue is particularly acute: tourists typically generate more waste than locals, and in many popular destinations recycling facilities are patchy to say the least.

In addition, if you quote “GREENERHOLS” online at watertogo.eu you can obtain a 20 per cent discount code for Water To Go refillable water filter bottles that cut down on the amount of plastic bottles being bought. Every time the code is used, the Travel Foundation will also receive a donation.

Find out more top tips, facts and stats on the makeholidaysgreener.org.uk website.