The team at Dorseteco were approached back in July 2022 by a chap called David Haze. He said that he was attempting a zero carbon challenge to paddleboard around the Isle of Wight and would we be interested in supporting him in this? Well that sounded like a no brainer, we like helping people, especially people with great eco credentials, plus we had the perfect product to use from our range of eco friendly homewares and accessories to do so!
Based in Bournemouth David is a 7x world record breaker for stand up paddle boarding adventures. After a little bit of a background check we made contact and the rest as they say is history! David wrote;
"I wanted to run an idea by you…I am about to undertake the world's first completely carbon neutral environmentally friendly expedition. What I mean by this is that everything I use from my equipment, to my clothes and to my food will be ethically sourced, carbon neutral, environmentally friendly, preferably 100% recycled, recyclable or leaves no footprint. I am looking to work with brands who share the same vision and want to protect the planet too as well as using this challenge to raise money and awareness for Surfers Against Sewage and awareness for the Big Plastic Pledge. In August I will be commencing this project, which will be a 5 day solo circumference of the Isle of Wight by sup. The board I am using is 100% recycled, as everything was found in a skip destined for landfill. I am in desperate need of a blanket for the night I wanted to reach out to you to see if a collaboration could be formed and whether you could be the last piece of the puzzle to make this challenge complete."
How could we resist?!
We contacted David and he chose one of our Weaver Green range of blankets to keep him warm on his journey. They are made entirely out of recycled plastic bottles and even when they get wet they dry extremely quickly making them the perfect solution for his overnight warmth issues. David chose the Oxford Stripe Dove Grey blanket which you can view in our online shop here.
The Weaver Green range of blankets, throws, rugs and bags are all made out of 100% recycled plastic bottles. The eco friendly Devon based company mainly have the products made in India and they reclaim 40% of the bottles used from waterways. The blanket in question retails at £55 and comprises of 300 bottles, a great use of the plastic bottles that would otherwise have ended up in landfill or our Oceans.
David is the first to admit he’s made some mistakes in life but his strength and determination has turned his life around. He was a very successful foreign exchange broker in London living the playboy lifestyle but he lost his job and his life spiralled out of control, turning to crime and drugs, ending up in prison and even attempting to take his own life. His story is quite incredible. I don’t want to do his life story an injustice so if you’re interested in more information you can read newspaper and radio interviews that David has given which show an incredible story of how he managed to turn his life back round and do some really positive things in the process. Breaking 7 world records is no mean feat let’s be honest. Obviously we are now in October and the challenge has been successfully completed but he’s not stopping there. If you’d like more information about David or his adventures you can follow him on Instagram @nomadicpaddler. We’re really proud to have supported David through Dorseteco in this small way and look forward to further collaborations in the future.