Can a bunch of enterprising young surfers grow their companies while solving one of the sport's biggest and most enduring problems: the destructive effects of surfboard manufacturing on the environment ? Several beach bums-turned-business owners are working to do just that, replacing the toxic components found in most modern boards with upcycled plastic that, in some cases, was previously used as hospital trays. Surfboards have undergone radical development and improvement since ancient Hawaiians who created the sport fashioned ridable 16-foot planks from local wili wili and koa trees. Today's high performance surfboards offer speed and maneuverability the sport's founders could never have imagined--and without the hernias suffered dragging around the heavy wood slabs of yore.
They also represent big business, with board sales last year reaching $2.9 billon, and estimates of an increase to $ 4.4 billion by 2032 as more people take to the waves.
But surfboards contain some of the most polluting substances in sports. Those include the central core of polyurethane blanks , which are virtually unrecyclable or reusable for other purposes. Often, they wind up slowly breaking down into millions of biodegradably resistant bits and settle in landfills.
Once fiberglass reinforcements and toxic polyester resin mixed with acetone are slapped around that foam, most surfboards represent frontal assaults on the water, sand, marine life, and land that famously environmentally sensitive surfe.
