Sustainable Surfboard by the Eden Project
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.23.05
For about 3000 years, up until the 1950's, surfboards were made out of wood. When manufacturers discovered they could make boards more cheaply and easily out of polystyrene foam and fiberglass resin, they made the switch, and it still remains an industry standard today. Unfortunately, polystyrene (better known to most of us as "styrofoam") has been known to leach toxic chemicals and creates copious amounts of liquid and solid waste during its production. Lighter and more maneuverable than the old-fashioned wood boards, about 750,000 are made each year, each one responsible for the above and other environmental bummers (it is also a possible carcinogen). Thank goodness for the Eden Project, which has developed a sustainable way to hang ten.
Their Eco Board (a prototype, it appears, at this point) is made with a balsa wood core cut from a balsa tree growing in the tropical biome at the Eden Project. The core is coated with a composite layer consisting of hemp cloth in a matrix of resin derived from what they call an "oil producing plant." According to the folks at Eden, this is the first time all three elements of the board have been plant-based since the original Hawaiian boards. Said Chris Hines, Sustainability Director at the Eden Project: "Surfing is an iconic image of our times and we have chosen to throw down the challenge/gauntlet in this arena not only to try to progress the surfing industry but also as a high profile vehicle for the whole manufacturing industry of products worldwide – how do we manufacturer products in a more sustainable manner." Righteous, dude. ::Eden Project via Product Dose
I am building a surf board along the lines of the ones my father used in the 1920's (Honolulu)- guess what? -I'm building it from balsa- I am using epoxy 10-30003 which I understood to be a non hazardous product ( see- http://www.epoxies.com/adhev.htm) Any comments on this resin wood be welcomed.