1% for the Planet Action | WINGS OF THE OCEAN

Each year, as members of 1% for the Planet, Café du Cycliste donates a percent of its revenue to charities and organisations working to protect the environment and promote sustainable development. In 2023, Café du Cycliste has carefully chosen six associations with which we have common DNA and values. One of these six associations is Wings of the Ocean.

Established in 2018, Wings of the Ocean aims to clean up coastlines and raise public awareness of environmental issues and pollution, particularly due to plastic. Over the last five months, they have engaged amongst no less than 12,493 people, organized 230 awareness-raising activities and 173 clean-ups, with a total of 34 tonnes of waste collected.

1% for the Planet Action | WINGS OF THE OCEAN

Wings of the Ocean field investigations allow them to highlight issues and provide eco-responsible and sustainable solutions. Wings of the Ocean association raises awareness among people through depollution, which allows it to make pollution visible, but also by proposing clear actions.

La Mission Sud / The South Mission

This depollution and awareness project used a volunteer team roaming from Sète to Nice on France’s southern seaboard for four months. The Mission Sud team addresses different themes such as plastic pollution but also the solutions that exist. During their actions they highlight: micro-plastic and human plastic consumption; mermaid tears (shards of plastic and glass) and the plastic industry; cigarette butts and micro-particles; bio-media (fibres from textiles) and problematic bacteria; the importance of sea lines and tides; and the solutions and actions that they can implement as individuals.

The association raises awareness with an educational aim and the objective is to make the public think so that they put their own consumption practices into perspective. For almost three years, the South Mission has aimed to raise awareness amongst vacationers, boaters, tourism professionals and local populations to be the first actors of change.

This 2023 season, the South Mission lasted four months and welcomed 15 volunteers, to take the time to meet people and propose targeted actions depending on the territory and to highlight plastic pollution. Their roaming by bike allowed them to reach more people and territories with unique specificities. They have covered nearly 648.6 km this season. Thus, the South Mission is the most neutral mission in terms of carbon dioxide emissions and allows volunteers to discover ‘slow travel’.

Like previous seasons, the Mission Sud team left Sète to go to Nice. They had the opportunity to go to towns such as Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Bandol or even the island of Saint-Honorat to meet their partners and continue their inter-association dynamic. They mainly make stopovers of one week per location and take up residence in partner campsites.
The Mission Sud team carried out nearly 38 clean-ups along the French Mediterranean coast and collected a total of approximately 2,200 kg of litter. The clean-ups last around two hours and the waste collected is evaluated via the Mer Terre association platform to help highlight specific local issues.

Throughout the season, they mainly found plastic waste such as: plastic bottles; bio-media; ammunition wads and pellets; capsules; corks; cotton buds; mermaid tears; plastic straws; lollipop sticks; and of course cigarette butts, the scourge of coastal beaches with nearly 38,167 units collected.

Awareness Data

Throughout the season, the Mission Sud team raised awareness among local populations but also among tourist populations.

● Organized 54 awareness actions
● Raised awareness among around 1,408 people
● Participated in the Les Jardins Sonores Festival, World Clean Up Day as well as heritage days
● Offered awareness stands and workshops at local markets
● Created zero waste and vegan aperitifs
● Organized film debates during the summer season
● Imagined more militant actions such as sit-ins or putting up awareness posters

Plogging action with Café du Cycliste, the Nice Plogging collective, and Bleu Gorgone association. At the end of September, the South Mission finished its journey in Nice after four months of roaming by bike. Café du Cycliste, the Bleu Gorgone association, and the Nice Plogging collective joined forces and organized a clean-up operation on the Nice sea wall. In one hour and with the help of 44 people, we collected 220 kg of waste: - 120kgs of glass - 20kg of plastic - 1,500 cigarette butts - 255 caps - 370 bottle caps

Conference at the Café du Cycliste

The day ended with a conference in our store on the port of Nice with the Wings of The Ocean association and accompanied by the Bluenery Academy. The Bluenery Academy is a freediving and breathing school in Villefranche-sur-mer founded by Guillaume Nery, multiple freediving world champion and Caravan Café du Cycliste athlete.

Café du Cycliste and Guillaume Nery introduced this conference before giving the floor to Wings of the Ocean who discussed the threat of plastic pollution to our marine habitats.

This is a problem that Café du Cycliste truly want to address and help support awareness of. As a company based in Nice, between the sea and the mountains, protecting the ocean is critical for us, and the rest of the World.

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