Léa Navarro visits Pornic to advocate for ocean protection

Surfer Léa Navarro arrived in Pornic, France, on September 21 as part of ‘L’Odyssée du plastique’, an eco-adventure covering over 700 kilometers from Tours to La Rochelle. Traveling via canoe, bicycle, and surfboard, Navarro is collecting and characterizing waste along riverbanks and coasts to provide data for the NGO Wings of the Ocean.

During her stop, Navarro met with local officials, including Mayor Antoine Hubert, to present an open letter titled ‘De la mer aux maires’ (From the sea to the mayors). The letter urges local authorities to implement measures such as deposit systems for containers to prevent waste from entering natural environments. Navarro highlighted that deposit systems, like those used in the Netherlands, have successfully reduced the presence of small plastic bottles and cans in wild waste by 79%.

The initiative is supported by organizations including MAIF, Reloop, and Wings of the Ocean, aiming to raise awareness about how land-based waste is transported through waterways into the ocean.