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The surfing industry is doing its bit

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The surfing industry is doing its bit

Written by David Pierre

Green minds are emerging in all industries across the world. The surfing industry is a great example of businesses and their customers looking for ways to reduce their impact on the environment.

In the recent years, businesses in the surfing industry have revealed their aspiration to lead by example and show that they care about the environment and that surfers care too.

Eco-friendly initiatives from surfing brands

Major surf brands including Billabong and Rip Curl have developed new eco-friendly products ranging from simple T-shirts made from organic cotton and jeans made from recycled cotton fibres, to wetsuits made from recycled textiles and board shorts made from recycled polyester. Rip Curl even developed a rash vest made from recycled plastic bottles. Reef is using recycled materials such as used car tyres, bike tyre tubes as well as organically sourced materials such as cotton and hemp in the construction of their footwear.

As well, numerous associations of shapers are working hard to find products that are more environmentally friendly to use in the manufacturing process of boards. Bamboo for example is quickly renewable and grows easily without the help of pesticides and fertilizers leading more and more surf companies to use bamboo fibres to make their products. Another example is the use of post-consumer material. FCS recently announced the launch of Project Green Flex, an initiative to introduce a new fin made from post-consumer material.

Furthermore, businesses in the surfing industry are also working on running more eco-friendly operations. A great example is D’Arcy Surfboards who built the most environmentally friendly shaping factory in Australia.

Surfers’ perspective

“As a surfer, the question that comes to me naturally when thinking about new materials is the preservation of performance” said David Pierre. In fact, surfers tend to be concerned about the impact of eco-friendly material on the product performance, in particular with boards. Surfers like customers is any other industry are concerned about the environment and they do want to do their bit but not at any price and evidently not at the expense of their comfort and performance.

Surfing companies realise that. And when looking at products made from environmentally friendly material, surfer David Pierre states that “they feel and look exactly the same as a regular wetsuit or board short. And that’s exactly what we want!”.

Surfers’ opinion is prompting businesses in the industry to keep on researching new and innovative ways to create the best possible products in the most sustainable manner with a goal of helping the planet without sacrificing comfort and performance.

Making a difference

With each pair of recycled board shorts from Billabong containing roughly 10 plastic bottles, Billabong recycled board short program claims to have saved over 4.5 million plastic bottles from landfill so far.

The impact of businesses taking steps to become greener is massive and it is essential that businesses from all industries do what they can to minimize the negative impact of their products and production practices on the environment.

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More information about this topic in our recycling & waste section.

Written by David Pierre

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