A CO-FOUNDER of Surfers Against Sewage has been honoured by the University of London.

Chris Hines, who helped to start the campaigning charity at St Agnes in Cornwall in 1990, has received an honorary degree at Royal Holloway, in recognition of his lifelong commitment to protecting the sea and waterways, and campaigning for a more sustainable world.

A Royal Holloway spokesperson said: “Chris’s interest in the environment began as a child, growing up on the edge of Dartmoor, with summers spent on Cornish beaches.

“A keen surfer and part of the surfing community in the early 1990s, Chris and his fellow surfers understood their favourite pastime brought with it a health hazard via pollution.

“In 1990, Chris co-founded Surfers Against Sewage, one of the UK’s most successful marine campaigning charities that raised the alarm about sewage discharge, holding the government to account and pushing for change.

“Surfers Against Sewage was born out of what Chris calls ‘righteous outrage’ which succeeded in ground-breaking environmental activism.

“They pushed the issue of sewage up the political agenda and, in 1997, Chris became part of a government select committee which concluded that all sewage must be treated at tertiary level, resulting in a £5.5-billion investment in new infrastructure.”

Chris was the sustainability director at the Eden Project, near St Austell, from 2001 to 2007 and, in 2008, he was awarded an MBE for “services to the environment”.

Chris’s role at the Eden Project saw him introduce a concept which resulted in a large reduction in waste sent to landfill.

In 2005, Chris was instrumental in organising Africa Calling, a concert broadcast from the Eden Project which put African artists in the spotlight and featured a live broadcast appearance by Nelson Mandela.

Now, through his own company, A Grain of Sand, Chris is supporting organisations of all kinds in their sustainability goals.