Apelviken is a local association committed to cleaning up the beaches of the Marche region in Italy by picking up litter and raising awareness for people to do the same.
Their project immediately struck a chord in our hearts because it shares our approach to respecting nature and actively doing so with simple but concrete initiatives. The association operates on the beaches that represent “home” for us and for which we have a special emotional bond, and this initiative is scalable to all beaches in Italy, Europe, and the World.
“The single actions of each of us can make a difference when combined with the small actions done by an entire community. We can pay attention to the products we choose, and the packaging of the things we consume, and we can do our part by picking up the trash we find when we take a walk at the beach, park, or mountain. Because yoga is a lifestyle on and off the Yoga mat, it is important to bring its teachings into our daily lives.”
Davide Paolini
Founder ReYoga
There are many initiatives like these fortunately and we hope that they can involve more and more people, helping us to always maintain a mindful attitude towards the nature that hosts us.
How was Apelviken founded?
Apelviken is the child of the spontaneous good deeds that Francesco and two of his friends used to practice: collecting old bottles, bottles, caps, and cans from the beach near home. The idea of founding an association dedicated to this purpose came from the sense of satisfaction that stemmed from these outings.
Combining this good practice with a passion for surfing, the name “Apelviken” was then born, in memory of a beautiful surfing bay in Sweden.
The iconic bracelets speak of your respect for nature
Apelviken rubbed off on us and we thought it would be great to get its message out to our yoga community! The association supports itself through the sale of bracelets made in part from materials salvaged from beaches, sanitized and processed with special cutters.
Together we then thought of creating a bracelet of this worldview, where unspoiled nature deserves respect from everyone and where attention to pollution of the seas and oceans becomes a daily action of active awareness.
We called these bracelets Ocean Lover, they are composed of wooden beads handcrafted in Italy plus a special “archeoplastic” bead made by Apelviken by working buoys recovered from beaches. This small coral-coloured bead, placed in the centre of the bracelet becomes a symbol of those who want to do their part to help the planet and our seas.
What is “archeoplastic”?
An Italian association defined this word as all kinds of plastics that arrive on the beaches daily. There even is a museum in Italy that shows all kinds of plastic containers from different epochs that arrived on beaches in Italy. The most common archeoplastics are the packaging of sunscreen, soaps, detergents, and buoys that can be traced back as far as the 1960s.
These wastes and their dating are a clear effect of human pollution and too much carelessness in recent decades.
In this regard, the virtual museum of archeoplastics, to raise awareness and educate, created in Ostuni by Enzo Suma, is worth mentioning.
Ocean Lover bracelets made by Apelviken for ReYoga are available in three versions: Palombina, Mezzavalle, and Sirolo, the beaches from which this project came to life! By buying them you can help the association support itself because we chose to have them produced by Apelviken’s staff to support their activity.
Help us support this project and spread the message enclosed in the bracelets. By wearing them, you can remind yourself at all times to make the right choices to save our seas from pollution!
