THE NEW WAVE OF SUSTAINABLE SURF INDUSTRY - Noora Vartiainen/2018 Bachelor Thesis/Industrial Design Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied ...
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THE NEW WAVE OF SUSTAINABLE SURF INDUSTRY Noora Vartiainen/2018 Bachelor Thesis/Industrial Design Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
Abstract
Author:
Noora Vartiainen
The aim of the thesis is to find alternati-
ve materials and processes that could be Title:
applied to the surf industry to make the The New Wave of Sustainable Surf Industry
production more sustainable. The thesis
is written for the client Primvs Surfboards/ Number of pages: 67
Homeblown Factory.
Date: 28. March 2018
The research process involves inclusi-
ve observation, interviews and qualita- Degree: Bachelor of Arts
tive research in the field. As an end-re-
sult, I analyse the possible materials and Degree programme: Design
processes that are best suited for to the
field. I also present three different alterna- Specialisation: Industrial Design
tive concepts for an ecological surfboard.
Instructors:
Juha Ainoa, Lecturer, Metropolia AMK Vil-
le-Matti Vilkka, Lecturer, Metropolia,
Bruno Birra, the Owner of Primvs surfbo-
ards -brand
Key words:
Design, Surf industry, Surf, Ecological
Tiivistelmä
Tekijä:
Noora Vartiainen
Opinnäytetyön tavoite oli löytää vaihto- Otsikko:
ehtoisia materiaaleja ja prosesseja, joita The New Wave of Sustainable Surf Industry
voitaisiin soveltaa surffausteollisuuteen,
jotta tuotanto olisi kestävämpää. Opin- Sivujen määrä: 67
näytetyö on kirjoitettu asiakkaalle Primvs
Surfboards / Homeblown Factory. Aika: 28.3.2018
Tutkimusprosessi sisältää osallistavaa Tutkinto: Muotoilija (AMK)
havainnointia, haastatteluita ja alan kva-
litatiivista tutkimusta. Koulutusohjelma:
Muotoilun koulutusohjelma
Lopputuloksena analysoin alalle parhai-
ten soveltuvia mahdollisia materiaaleja Suuntautumisvaihtoehto:
ja prosesseja sekä esittelen ehdotukset Teollinen muotoilu
mahdollisita konsepteista.
Ohjaajat:
Juha Ainoa, Lehtori, Metropolia AMK Vil-
le-Matti Vilkka, Lehtori, Metropolia AMK
Bruno Birra, Primvs surfboards -brandin
omistaja
Avainsanat:
Muotoilu, Surffilauta, Surffiteollisuus,
Ekologisuus
Contents
Abstract
Tiivistelmä 3. Results 31
3.1 Alternative Materials -Blanks 32
1. Introduction 1 3.2 Alternative Materials - Finishing 39
1.1 The Brief 2 3.3 Alternative Production Methods 41
1.2 Significance Of The Thesis 4
1.3 Methodological Approach 5 4. Analysis 44
1.4 Surfboards 6 4.1 The New Wave of the Industry 45
1.5 Market Analysis 8 4.2 Analysis Blanks 47
1.6 The Target Group 9 4.3 Analysis Finishing 48
1.7 Life Cycle Of A Board 10
5. Solutions 49
2. Materials & Methods 13 5.1 Material Solutions - Concepts 50
2.1 Manufacturing Process 14 5.2 Solutions to Production 54
2.2 Traditional Board Structures 22
2.3 Polymers And The Environment 23 6. Conclusions 55
2.4 Developing The Industry 24 Conclusions and Further Development 56
2.5 Methods 26
References 58
2.6 Benchmarking 27
Attachment 1 61
Attachment 2 62
1. Introduction
1
1.1 The Brief
The idea behind my thesis project came My idea is to find alternative materials that Third chapter is for researching the ma-
by participatory observation, while wor- would be affordable for the companies terials and finding alternative methods for
king in Lisbon as an intern. I became fa- and easily adapted into the manufactu- manufacturing. Last three chapters are
miliar with the surf culture and process. Iring process. The materials have to have for further analysis, solutions and con-
spent time in the Homeblown factory and the same performance, they have to be clusions. I also present three alternative
became aware of the downsides of the in- strong and flexible and easily to be pro- concepts.
dustry. duced in series. I am narrowing my thesis
to typical (nowadays made from polyuret- Before even starting my thesis, I have tal-
”The dirtiest thing about surfing is un- hane) short and longboards. However, I ked with many people working in the in-
der our feet — a conventional surfbo- do not focus on boards like kite boards dustry and I have doubts if the process
ard is 100 percent toxic” Frank Scura. which need different kind of performance can be developed to be 100% ecological.
of the materials. However I am trying my best and finding
As a designer, I saw an opportunity to different approaches to it. The relevant
change this and find ways to make the My study will be based on literature, re- terms to the research and the interviews
industry greener. My mission was to mi- ports, articles, statistics and interviews. I can be found in the attachments.
nimise the environmental impact by inno- will study also how other industries has
vating and implementing the most sustai- been dealing with this kind of materials My client, Primvs Surfboards / Homeblo-
nable manufacturing practices possible. I and problems. wn factory is a factory that offers surf
tried also to find a way to change mate- blanks, shaping and glassing services.
rials to more ecological one. In the first chapter I’m opening back- The factory is localised in Portugal, Ca-
ground for my thesis and introducing the parica and it was opened in 2010. There
In this thesis I’m focusing on the process surf industry. After that, I open the ma- are 7 people working in the factory at the
of the Homeblown factory but my thoughts nufacturing process more closely and do moment. They use in-house engineering
and conclusions are applicable to all of preliminary research about the materials and they have designed and build their
the market. in the second chapter. own equipments.
2
The factory has tried to solve the problem but nowadays they do not have stock bo-
behind my thesis before. 15 years ago ards anymore.
they invented their own bio foam. Biofoam
consisted partly of soya. Soya made the
foam brown and mainly because of the
colour the new method was not a suc-
cess. At this moment they are producing
boards from polyurethane.
The factory makes boards for 8 brands, for
example, Bloodbrothers, Lisbon Crooks,
Country surfboards, Primvs, Shaperoom.
All their clients are companies., they don’t
receive orders from individuals. 80% of
the customers are locals, 20% foreigners
(Germany and Hawaii).
Bruno Birra, the owner of the Homeblown
factory, started he’s own brand
Primvs surfboards 3 years ago. Primvs
boards are made in the factory. Boards
are made only by custom orders, mostly
for professional surfers. They are spon-
soring 10 athletes at the moment. Primvs
used to have it’s own shop in Caparica,
3
1.2 Significance Of The Thesis
Surfboards are made using the same ma- resonate with all surfers. (Jake Moss). ner way to make surfboards, affter the
terials and technology that was developed founder Corran Addisons’ long time friend
back in the 1950’s, which was a time when Ecological board would be also a compe- Frankie Hubbard died from lung cancer as
environmental concerns did not exist. titive advantage for the company. Users a result of prolonged exposure to fiberg-
are quality-conscious so marketing would lass dust and polyester resin. (Search
Many environmental associations consi- be easy. Average surfer is willing to buy Magazine).
der surf tourism to be a threat to the en- little bit more from a product which is en-
vironment and are opposing the surf tou- vironmentally friendly.
rism industry. This can be a major threat
to the growth of the market in future. That Dalcasio Reis has said that we have new
is why processes has to be transformed kinds of consumers, who are interested
into more sustainable ones. in details. The details relate to factors like
how much energy the product consumes,
One of the greatest aspects about surfing how much waste it generates, and finally
is it has no gender, socio-economic or how long it will last and how the product is
age boundaries. It is global. Surfers come manufactured. (Reis & Wiedemann, 12)
from many different backgrounds and ap-
proaches but all rely on the same things. ”Recycle-ability in the end product is
We are like a family connected by our hugely important otherwise the circle
deep respect for and love of the ocean. of hypocrisy continues each time we
Keeping plastics out of our second home, paddle out on boards that will never
restoring healthy environments, getting biodegrade” (Bryson Roberson)
better value and performance from our
products, and working towards healthier Imagine Surfboards -company began to
practices in our industry are things that conduct a research into a better and clea-
4
1.3 Methodological Approach
Discover Define Develop Deliver
definition
Problem
Problem
Solution
Design brief
The Design Council has presented the design Define – The second quarter represents the This process of trial and error helps designers
process in four phases - Double Diamond sha- definition stage, in which designers try to make to improve and refine their ideas.
pe. I used this method in my studies. sense of all the possibilities identified in the
Discover phase. Delivery – The final quarter of the double
Discover – The first quarter of the Double diamond model is the delivery stage, where
Diamond model covers the start of the project. Develop – The third quarter marks a period the resulting project is finalized, produced and
Designers try to look at the world in a fresh of development where solutions or concepts launched.
way, notice new things and gather insights. are created, prototyped, tested and iterated.
5
1.4 Surfboards
Although there are unlimited sizes and The typical modern surfboard is made
shapes of surfboards, most modern surf using polyurethane foam and polyester
boards are constructed using the same resin. The manufacturing process in dif-
materials and techniques (with the exclu- ferent shapes of boards is basically the
sion of beginner soft-top boards and spe- same. Therefore the lifecycle of the board
cialty wooden boards). Boards are de- is the same.
signed for a certain performance.
My client mostly manufactures shortbo-
ards, and I’m focusing in my thesis on fin-
ding an alternative manufacturing method
for their polyurethane boards. My conclu-
sions in this thesis can be adapted to ot-
her board types as well.
LONGBOARD GUN FUNBOARD HYBRID SHORTBOARD FISH
6NOSE NOSE
STRINGER
ROCKET
DECK RAIL BOTTOM
FINS
TAIL TAIL
71.5 Market Analysis
According to Global Surfing Market report,
the surf industry is growing. The more
surfers there are, the more products are
35 million surfers the surfers are no longer dependent on
the natural waves.
sold. The surfers are aware of the mar- According to the Global Industry Analysis
kets and are willing to purchase products Inc. report the major share of the surf in-
online, to get what they want. Still biggest dustry growth will be in the US and Eu-
part of the industry is in USA (49% of the rope. Also the market for the surfing ap-
markets). parel in Europe is expected to surge at a
compound annual growth rate of 5%.
The interest towards surfing is also gro-
wing. It’s because of attitudes and there’s The more the industry is growing, the more
more options available (More surf camps boards are made and the impact for the
-> more surf travels -> more interest). Sur- environment is growing all the time. When
fing is also becoming more popular within 60% casual 40% core the industry is growing, more companies
woman. This may be due to that it’s been come into the market and open their new
coming a fitness trend and the spa’s are factories. By finding an alternative met-
advertising it as a fitness ritual. Surfing its hod to make boards would help also the
included in the 2020 Olympic Games to future companies to invest on environme-
be held in Japan and the sport is getting ntally more sustainable processes.
more followers.
New technologies enables new kinds of
ways to engage in the sport. Companies
are building artificial waves and wave
parks. After these kinds of inventions,
81.6 The Target Group
male
4
boards 10
miles
US
citizen
session
34 years
75 000$/
year
2,5 h 108x
40 $
The Surfrider Foundation conducteda stu- The average surfer is not the typical cus- to have what they want. The users are
dy 2011 of over 5000 U.S. surfers. In that tomer for companies. Behind the surfer quality-conscious and are willing to pay
study they made the defined an average look, there normally is a lifestyle and an little bit more for a product which is envi-
surfer. It is based only on U.S. surfers, but ideology which reflects to all of the deci- ronmentally friendly.
since the U.S. covers half of the market, it sions they make. They are a target group
can be used as an average. who really knows what they are buying
and they are thus willing to make an effort
91.7 The Life Cycle Of A Board
The process of generating, using, and MATERIALS
maintaining a surfboard is very energy
CONSTRUCTION
intensive. Essentially, petroleum is at the
base of every material that is used in crea-
ting a surfboard. WASTE
The average customer uses their board
for 2years, the professional surfer only for DISTRIBUTION
3-6 months. Only 10% of the surfers bring
their board to be fixed. The boards are st-
rong normally only professional surfers
broke their boards. RECYCLING
Birra told that when a surfer buys a new USAGE
board, the ’recycling’ goes hand and to
hand.
CONSTRUC- DISTRIBU-
MATERIALS USAGE WASTE
”Board doesn’t disappear. They give TION TION
away, sell or put those into their gara- PU, wood, Sandpaper, masks, Wax, repairing
MATERIALS gloves, paintbrushes, Packaging material
ge.” fiberglass, resin
stirring sticks, tape
(fiberglass, resin)
Mechanical, Transportation
Transportation
The shipping and packing process of ENERGY chemical and ther- Electricity
vehichle gasoline
vehichle gasoline
mal (aeroplanes)
heavy and bulky petroleum materials Pieces of board can
Gas from burning Gas from burning
deepens the cycle of using non-renewab- WASTE fossil fuels, acciden-
Electricity, dust, PU,
fossil fuels, acciden- chip into ocen while Landfills
fiberglass and resin
le materials in surfboard production. tal petroleum spills tal petroleum spills broken
10”A classic surfboard is made of mate-
rials that have traveled 9000km before
being assembled” NOTOX Surfboards
11Some consumers buy their surfboards di- my blanks to all around Portugal…the
rectly from these local shapers, and ty- reason is that my blanks are more eco-
pically pick up the board in their vehicle, logical so they starts yellowing after
cutting down on packaging materials and 3 months and companies want their
transportation materials between the ma- blanks to stay white as long as pos-
nufacturer and the consumer. sible.” Birra
Using local shapers and local materials The carbon footprint of surfing does not
would make the lifecycle more sustainab- only include the board manufacturing. A
le. At this moment most of the shapers or- major part of the footprint is accumulated
der their blanks from overseas. when the surfers travel overseas to find
waves. The Airlines charge hundreds of
When you talk about making a surfboard euros per surfboard, per flight. In addition,
more sustainable you have to remember they generally break the surfboards in
the whole life cycle. Importing chemicals the cargo holds. As a result, most surfers
is dirty. Most of the companies (80%) im- choose to fly without a board, and buy one
port blanks from overseas. Transporting at the destination, which they dispose of
the materials is worse for the environme- before returning home. Imagine Surfbo-
nt than the materials used. ards tried to solve this problem by creating
a surf board that splits into 2 or three pie-
”You should support locals when bu- ces, that fits into a “standard size” protec-
ying resin, blanks, and woods. That’s tive case, and can be checked into flights
one way of making a surfboard more as regular baggage for no extra cost.
sustainable. This is one of the main
motives why I started to make my own
blanks. If you ask me why I don’t sell
122. Materials & Methods
132.1 Manufacturing Process
The typical surfboard has a rigid polyu- sist of resin drops, dust and fiberglass.
rethane foam core with an outer shell of The fiber glass rest over can be used for
fiberglass cloth and polyester resins. A repairing old boards.
stringer is added into the middle of the
surfboard to give more strength. The factory has ordered a company to
start recycling the rest over materials and
The process is mostly carried out by using chemicals. That makes the process less
environmentally harmful products. During harmful for the workers and the waste is
the manufacturing, the workers are sur- recycled properly. Each month the recy-
rounded by dust and toxics. A lot of ma- cling company comes to pick the rest over
terials are wasted and those are un-recy- material. The factory also got a machine
clable. that cleans the painting instruments and
recycles the rest over paint and acetone.
The Homeblown factory orders materials
from big chemical companies overseas.
Companies are located in Germany, Hol-
land, Spain, Sweden and USA. There
are not many companies to choose from.
Those big companies are controlling the
chemical industry. They rule the world ac-
cording to Birra.
50% of a board is loss during the process.
The biggest percentage of the loss comes
from foam dust. The other part of loss con-
14”Being a board generated purely from
petroleum, the current process for
creating surfboards is not sustainab-
le.” Paik
15Manufacturing Process THE MA-
Adding
Blanks CNC Shaping Glasing
stringer
16Adding
Blanks CNC Shaping Glasing
stringer
BLANKS on the world’s increasing concern regar- redibly lightweight surfboard core. Howe-
ding both the short and long term health ver, very few hand shapers use EPS foam,
Blanks are made normally of polyuretha- hazards of isocyanates in general, and because it is difficult to work with. Surfbo-
ne foam or expanded polystyrene (EPS) TDI in particular. ards made from EPS foam are typically
foam by inception and moulding. PU foam molded by machines. EPS also has an
is becoming more usual because it is MDI is by far the least hazardous of the open cell foam, meaning that is very water
much easier to shape and more constant commonly available isocyanates, since its absorbent. To combat this issue, shapers
to work with. Although EPS foam is much vapour pressure (which is an indication of who use EPS foam must add extra layers
lighter than PU and the performance of how easily it evaporates) is some 2500 ti- of fiberglass and epoxy resin to prevent
the board is why it is different. The Facto- mes less than that of TDI at ambient tem- any dings from penetrating deep enough
ry uses PU foam for blanks. peratures. This fact makes handling, sto- to reach the foam. (Surfscience)
rage and utilisation of the chemical much
Polyurethane safer and thereby much easier especially The blank comprises ~26% of the carbon
regarding unforeseen occurrences, such footprint of a surfboard. Moreover, ~96%
Polyurethanes are thermosed polymers as accidental spillages. (Homeblown) of the impact of foam comes from the raw
formed from di-isocyanates and polyfun- materials extraction and processing. The-
ctional compounds containing numerous Polystyrene refore, the best way to reduce the impact
hydroxy-groups. The major use of po- of the blank comes from using recycled
lyurethanes is a rigid or flexible foams. Polystyrene (PS) foam is a lighter alter- content. (Sustainable Surf). When asked
(Nicholson, 19) native to traditional Polyurethane foam. from Birra what he thinks is the most dif-
However, it takes about two to four times ficult part of the process to change more
The factory has developed a foam system the labor to shape. sustainable he said ’Blanks, no doubt’.
that is based on MDI (methylene di-phe-
nyl di-isocyanate) rather than TDI (toluene Expanded, or beaded, foam (EPS/Styro-
di-isocyanate). This decision was based foam) is a relatively inexpensive and inc-
17Adding
Blanks CNC Shaping Glasing
stringer
STRINGER
The stringer serves to increase the bo-
ard’s overall strength and reduce its fle-
xibility. Some boards have multiple strin-
gers.
Stringers are made of plywood. Plywood
is glued directional because they have to
be resistant and flexible. Stringer is glued
with polyurethane glue in middle of a half
cutter blank
18Adding
Blanks CNC Shaping Glasing
stringer
SHAPING
After the stringer has been glued, the po-
lyurethane blank is cut into a raw shape by
using CNC machine. After that the shaper
shapes the board with sandpapers to its
final shape.
Changing design will effect the perfor-
mance of a surfboard.
Shaping produces dust and waste that is
harmful for the workers.
19Adding
Blanks CNC Shaping Glasing
stringer
FINISHING Fiberglass
The most common types of resin are Po- The vast majority of surfboards use fi-
lyester and Epoxy. Most surfboards use berglass cloth impregnated with resin to
polyester resin because it is very easy to create the hard shell of the board. Fiberg-
work with and has been the industry stan- lass is made from silicon dioxide, otherwi-
dard since the 1960’s. A small percentage se known as glass, and processed at high
of surfboards use epoxy resins. Epoxy re- temperatures. Cheaper and more flexible
sins are technically superior to polyester than carbon fiber, it is stronger than many
resins because they are stronger, more metals by weight, and can be molded into
durable, and have significantly less toxic complex shapes.
emissions. However polyester resin re-
mains the industry standard because it is Epoxy resins
very inexpensive and builders are extre-
mely familiar with using it. (Sustainable Epoxy resin systems comprise two parts;
Surf). one incorporates the three membered
epoxy ring and the other is a hardener
When resin is painted on over fiberglass, which cross-links with the epoxy. The re-
it creates a watertight and pressure resis- sin component is produced as a result of
tant seal that protects the board. a condensation polymerization reaction
between epichlorohydrin and a polyhedric
compound such as bisphenol A. (Simp-
son, 309)
20Adding
Blanks CNC Shaping Glasing
stringer
Epoxy resins are high resistant for tem-
peratures, good structural strength and
hardness. Epoxy has tendency to disco-
lour.
Epoxy resin emits up to 50% fewer VOC
than polystyrene resin. It is also stronger,
which combined with a compression mol-
ding process allows us to make the bo-
ards which are either lighter, or stronger
for the same weight as traditional surfbo-
ards. (Imagine surf)
Polyester resins
Polyester resins are unsaturated synthe-
tic resins formed by the reaction of diba-
sic organic acids and polyhydric alcohols.
(Wikipedia).
Polyester resins are used because they
are low cost, those have adequate resis-
tance to water, variety of chemicals and
weathering and ageing.
212.2 Traditional Board Structures
11 12 13
11 PAINT + POLISH
11 POLYESTER RESIN 11 EPOXY RESIN 12 EPOXY RESIN
22 FIBERGLASS 22 FIBERGLASS 23 FIBERGLASS
33 PU FOAM CORE 33 EPS FOAM CORE 34 EPS FOAM
CORE
There is three different typical ways to with epoxy resin and fiberglass. This met- This method is used by big mass se-
build a surfboard. Two first methods are hod is also typical in custom boards. ries production factories in China. These
used normally in smaller factories around boards are typically the cheaper ones.
the world, the third one in big factories/ Third traditional surfboad structure is Brands like NSP and Torq uses this met-
series production. made with EPS foam core and finished hod.
with epoxy resin and fiberglass. The bo-
First traditional surfboad structure is made ard is painted and polished after glasing.
with polyurethane foam core and finished Method differs from the second structure
with polyester resin and fiberglass. This because the finishing is made using va-
method is typical in custom boards. cuum method. Also the core is normally
with low density and the quality is lower
Second traditional surfboad structure is than in the first two methods.
made with EPS foam core and finished
222.3 Polymers And The Environment
Pollution is defined as the introduction by One way is also to develop polymers that
man into the environment of substances are biodegradable. Both the chemical
liable to cause hazards to human health, structure and composition that determine
harm living resources and ecological sys- whether the synthetic polymers are bio-
tems, damage structure or amenity, or degradable. Problems for the environme-
interfere with legitimate use of the envi- nt are not only technical, they are also po-
ronment. This all-embracing definition litical and economical.
includes the impact of polymers on the
environment, both in the original form as The polymers produces harmful VOC’s
raw materials and in their finished form. (Volatile organic compounds) that are or-
(Nicholson, 173) ganic chemicals that have a high vapor
pressure at an ordinary room temperatu-
According to the life cycle analysis con- re. Respiratory, allergic, or immune effe-
ducted by California-based non-pro- cts in infants or children are associated
fit group Sustainable Surf, a typical 6’0” with the man-made VOCs and other in-
short board, weighing approximately 2.5 door or outdoor air pollutants.
kilograms emits over 270 kilograms of
CO2 during its lifecycle, spanning from There are mainly three types of disposal
manufacturing to disposal. (Mellis, Char- technology, namely landfill, incineration
lotte. 05/2016) and recycling in the world. Polyurethanes
are flammable and they burn with toxic
Recovery and reuse of synthetic polymers flame, so incineration is not the best al-
are the most acceptable way of handling ternative.
the waste. Polymers can be recycled wi-
thout significant loss of their properties. (PIC 1)
232.4 Developing The Industry
Manufacturers are currently focusing on purchased overseas via the web shops. Birra explained that there are two ways
the development of innovative materials This opens the doors for finding right kind for a company to grow prices. You need
and technical fabrics to design trendy and of customers. to have 20 years experience or internatio-
high-performing surf wear. nal sponsoring rider riding your board and
Birra does not think the industry is going winning prizes. Normal marketing does
Innovations have already been made into to change a lot. Market is growing, there not work in the surf industry. Maybe the-
the board design: for example, high-per- are more brands coming to the market, it res is a percentage that would buy more
formance carbon fiber based boards. will be a war between prizes. Companies expensive ecological board. But it may
Eco-friendly surfboard materials and pro- cannot make too many modifications to not be enough.
duction techniques are becoming more the construction because the end prize
usual. matters. He does not think people have The industry is undeniably growing, now-
money to spend for innovating new mate- one can deny it. Birra believes surf is going
A huge trend occurring that in the surf in- rials. to be in top 3 sports in the world in 10
dustry is the uptake of sustainable textiles years. The market is also going to change
and materials. A handful of leading com- ”Surfboards have been sold for the around it at the same time to more aware
panies has taken the leap of faith towards same prize as they were 20years ago. of the environment.
sustainability and beginning experimen- At the same time prices for the mate-
ting with innovative fabrics. Very rapidly, rials has been rising because the price In the past there have been attempts to
sustainability is becoming a norm in the for petrol has gone up. Each time the- produce more ecological boards but most
surf industry. (Mellis, Charlotte. 2016) re’s more people making surfboards, of the attempts have failed because the
more people try to survive. Average boards did not perform well and looked
The average surfer is ecological and inte- price for a surfboard is 400 euros in bad because of the colour.
rested in environment so there’s already Portugal, 550 euros in the world. Be-
a need for eco-friendly products. Markets cause of the competition, companies The challenge is to create an ecological
are nowadays global, so products can be cant raise the prices.” surfboard that looks and feels exactly the
24same as what the customers are familiar There has to appear new solutions of raw
with. To achieve this, the board needs to materials if we want to make the industry
accomplish the following in descending more sustainable.
order of importance:
”There could be chemical revolution,
1. Provide at least the same level of like PU but using different material
performance as traditional boards than petrol as a base. And the mate-
rial should be white. It’s little difficult
2. Look like a traditional board to make the industry more sustainab-
le because everything we use is based
3. Be made from recycled or sustai- on petrol. Or you go back to making
nable materials wherever possible surfboards with wood.” Birra
4. Last longer and need to be replaced
less often
5. Getting rid of the loss material
By getting rid of the loss materials, the fac-
tory would also save money as well. The
process should be carried out more effi-
ciently. This could help to cut the produc-
tion costs also and the end prize should
not have to grow that much.
252.5 Methods
My research is based on inclusive ob- tried to develop the most suitable mate- the process around it because alternative
servation, that I executed in the factory, rials and processes for the industry. finishing methods has already been test-
as well as benchmarking, interviews and ed more.
research (literature, reports, articles and In the ”Solutions” chapter I present (deli-
statistics). vered) three different concepts and alter- How to make a surfboard by using sus-
native manufacturing methods. tainable materials in an effective way,
I conducted the background research by to minimise the ecological footprint?
inclusive observation in the factory. I be- In the final chapter I summarise my
came familiar with the process and the thoughts and draw conclusions. This research question includes all the
materials. I conducted research of the surf five requirements mentioned in the pre-
industry and the market overall. Thus, I ‘Design is what links creativity and in- vious chapter.
created a solid base for my research. novation. It shapes ideas to become
practical and attractive propositions
The next step was to discover the industry for users or customers. Design may
and other industries, which have chan- be described as creativity deployed to
ged their practices by making the process a specific end.’ The Cox Review
more sustainable, by benchmarking.
As the name ’New wave of the sustainab-
After the benchmarking I conducted dee- le surf industry’ tells, I’m trying to find a
per research on the data and defined the way to make the industry more greener.
materials and optional materials that could I’m narrowing my thesis to the factory’s
be used. ( See results chapter). process and finding an alternative soluti-
on to make surfboards which are nowa-
After gathering sufficient amount of infor- days made using polyurethane core. My
mation, I started to analyse the data and focus will be in the core of the board and
262.6 Benchmarking
I gathered some examples of companies Vissla
which are working in sustainable way in
the surf industry and also couple com- Vissla is a California based surf brand.
panies in different industries which has They strive to minimise their environme-
changed their processes into more sus- ntal impact and protect the oceans and
tainable. waves that raised us.
Sustainable surf - ecoboard Vissla has EcoSeas wetsuits which inclu-
des a water-repellant body lining made
Sustainable Surf is a California-based from recycled bottles.
non-profit charity organisation. Their mis-
sion is to be the catalyst that transforms Vissla is also partner with the Surfrider
surf culture into a powerful force for pro- Foundation in conjunction with the Surf In-
tecting the ocean playground. dustry Coastal Defender Program. Vissla
is willing to find a way to make ecological
They make their foam blanks from at least surfboards in the future and they annually
25% recycled foam or at least 25% biolo- have Upcycle contest where competitors
gical content. An alternative blank struc-
ture is made from majority content (75%)
renewable materials such as wood, bam-
boo, or similar types of structural bio-con-
tent. They use for finishing a resin that is
made from at least 25% biological con-
tent.
(PIC: 2)
27Moss research surfboards EPS foam is blown with steam using no
MDI or TDI (diisocyanates). The process
Moss Research Surfboards is a gras- produces no CFC’s and 80% less VOC’s.
sroots organisation with global reach, (Moss Research).
committed to producing the highest quali-
ty products, whose mission is to minimise Earth technologies
our environmental impact by innovating
and implementing the most sustainable Earth Technologies is an award winning
practices possible. environmentally friendly high performan-
ce surfboard and stand up paddle board
Moss Eco-Flex® received 2010 a Gold factory. They use Super Sap bio epoxies
Level Endorsement of Sustainability, it set for finishing. Blanks are made out of re-
a benchmark for the surfboard industry. cycled foam. Sustainably harvested ve-
They use recycled Foam Core and Zero neers, organic plant based cloths, and a
VOC Plant-Based Epoxy. They also use volcanic rock based composite are some
natural fiber reinforcements, bamboo of the key ingredients going into their
and repurposed fins. They say that their green boards. Earth Technologies has a
complete Eco-Flex construction process campaign ”Switch To Zero Waste”.
produces 90% less VOC’s. According to There is companies that provide eco-
the company, their boards are approxi- friendly sustainable composite materials,
mately 70% plant-based and recycled such as Sustainable Composites Ltd.
waste-stream materials. They have also build a ’eco-board’ a bal-
sa cored, hemp coated surfboard for the
50-100% recycled foam core -reconstitut- Eden Project. (Sustainable Composites
ed industrial waste and packing scraps. Ltd.) (PIC: 3)
28Richpeoplethings Imagine Surfboards
Richpeoplethings is a Spanish factory Imagine Surfboards is one of the trend-
who are creating new and environmen- setters when talking about ecological sur-
tally friendly ways for their manufacturing fboards. Like mentioned earlier in the int-
processes. They want to make a call to all roduction chapter, they started to develop
the companies and establishments that more sustainable ways to build boards,
use this raw material on a daily basis, so after their friend died because of poly-
that instead of being wasted they are sent mers. Nowadays, they build surfboards
to arrive or they themselves go to collect from wood composite.
them periodically.
Patagonia
For this reason, Richpeoplethings is crea-
ting a network of collaborators ”Corkllec- Patagonia is an American clothing com-
tors” throughout the Spanish territory for pany that sells outdoor clothing market-
this purpose. ed as sustainable. They are auditing their
materials and methods to make their pro-
The objective of this social enterprise is ducts, taking responsibility for the entire
to contribute to the revaluation of cork lifecycle of their products and examining
as a noble raw material, participating in how they use resources in their buildings
the beginning of an ecological movement and facilities.
that aims to sow and distribute solidarity
among the most needy. Patagonia’s ‘green’ wetsuits use renewab-
le natural rubber from hevea trees grown
(PIC:4)
29in compliance with Forest Stewardship machine They use Entropy Bio-resin, Kimberly Clark
Council standards. According to Patago- which is made by using green chemistry
nia, the breakthrough material creates techniques and has less than half the en- Kimberly Clark, a company that makes
80% fewer CO2 emissions than neopre- vironmental impact of other epoxies. Kleenex, Scott tissues, Huggies and Pull-
ne, the oil-based synthetic rubber used in Ups, is a good example of a company that
most conventional wetsuits. Nike also changed their production methods
because of activists. The company was
California’s Surf Organic Boards Once Nike was the company targeted by accused of destroying ancient forests for
labor activists, campus organisers and throwaway products.
Surf Organic boards use a technology anti-globalization forces for allowing its
developed by Ecovative Design called suppliers in poor countries to abuse and The company was already moving to-
Mycofoam (see chapter 3.1). They make exploit workers. Nowadays Nike is a cor- wards sourcing more recycled and certi-
their boards out of mushrooms. porate-sustainability leader. fied fiber before the activists came along,
but the campaign really did accelerate
Organic Dynamic In their website they say that they are their work and our progress.
”pushing the limits of sustainable perfor-
Organic Dynamic is Wellington based sur- mance innovation”. Greenpeace, says the company’s actions
fboard company that make custom surf- have had a ripple effect on other compa-
boards for local surfers from locally sour- Hurley is part of the Nike company, so ho- nies in the tissue-product sector.
ced, environmentally friendly materials. pefully in the future they will start inves-
ting more in the sustainable development.
They use 100% recyclable polystyrene. Hurley is a big brand in the surf industry,
They take all the offcuts and make them making wetsuits and apparels.
densit blocks that they cut on a CNC
303. Results
313.1 Alternative Materials - Blanks
1. Recycling old blanks into a machine that compresses the reg-
rind into highly dense rectangular blocks
California based start-up company, cal- (20pcf). The blocks of recycled EPS are
led Green Foam Blanks, collects polyu- then reprocessed into Envirofoam that is
rethane cuttings from surfboard factories remanufactured into blanks on the same
and uses a proprietary process, mixing equipment that makes the Virgin EPS
the trimmings with virgin foam to create blanks. Envirofoam material can be recy-
a blank that is 60 to 65 percent recycled cled and reprocessed into a usable blank
waste. (Woody Todd, 2009) material over and over. (Earth Tech)
”Recycling EPS Foam can be a soluti- ”Your next flatscreen T.V. will be pac-
on and a method to make a surfboard ked with styrofoam which you can take
but a lot of tests regarding it still have to many drop off points and have that
to be proven. And taking care when packaging sent to plants where they
you work with EPS foam, you always break down the styrofoam and repur-
have to glass it with epoxy resin. So pose it into massive foam blocks which
that means that the construction cost can be cut into blanks that are just as
will go up. ” Birra good as “virgin” foam.” Boardcave.
Earth Technologies does recycling of old The problem with this recycling method
foam in a different way: EPS is put into is that it does not work with PU, only with
a mulching machine that breaks down .EPS/styrofoam is said to be more envi-
the material to smaller pieces called “re- ronmentally sustainable than standard
grind”. Loose re-grind pieces are con- PU/PE board and it can be made from re-
veyed into a holding bag and fed down cycled material. Problem with EPS
32foam is that you can not glass an EPS or lesser degree. The cores can be recy-
board with Polyester resin. EPS is also cled again after the boards is no longer
harder material to shape. rideable.
Birra said that he uses EPS blanks so- ”Water resistance is always a problem.
metimes if the customer wants. He still Once a blank starts to suck water is like
prefers PU as a material because it is a sponge, it starts to rotten. Homeblo-
more flex, more dense, and materials are wn blanks are already waterproof. It
cheaper. With EPS you have to use epo- doesn’t mean that it doesn’t suck wa-
xy resin. EPS also has a tendency to be ter at all. It just sucks less water. ” Bir-
dumped quicker. PU is stronger. ra
When asked why the PU blanks cannot
be recycled as easily as EPS, Birra belie-
ves it is because the PU blank sucks the
resin into it.
Imagine Surf makes their cores from
100% recycled polystyrene (EPS), which
are extruded, not blown. They say that by
extruding, the core is 100% waterproof. A
damaged board will not absorb any water,
therefore, making it last longer than either
a traditional polyurethane or EPS core
both of which absorb water to a greater (PIC: 5)
33king Biofoam because nobody wanted
2. Plant based materials added to a yellow blank, it was more expensi-
polyurethane ve to make and amount of orders was
small.”
Moss Eco-Flex surfboards uses 70%
plant-based and recycled waste-stream So the question with the plant based
materials. materials is that is the market ready for
non-white boards? White board means in
Ice-Nine used to make blanks made out the industry a new board. Will the trend
of sugar – sugar-based polyols, to crea- change in the future? Or alternatively,
te organic polyurethane. This invention could there be a white plant based ma-
wasn not good after all. Sugar as a mate- terial available? So far I did not find an-
rial was difficult, when the product was in swers to those questions. If the colour is
contact with water. Once the board is bro- the problem, the board could be painted,
ken, it rottens very quickly because the it just costs more.
sugar sucks the water into the boards.
”When you have a board that is bro-
I asked from Birra what he thinks of plant wn, there’s already a cost (painting in
based materials in PU blanks and he’s white) that you cannot control. It’s just
thoughts were: cheaper to make a white board, it needs
less work so it’s quicker to make.” Bir-
”It can work but it’s not easy. It’s basi- ra
cally just chemistry. It can affect into
the structure but you can’t know befo-
re testing. For example like We quit ma- (PIC: 6)
343. Natural materials not white, doesn’t have same perfor-
mance than PU and it’s more expensi-
Wood? ve.” Birra
Wood has been a principal material in the Because of the performance, wood can-
construction of surfboards since ancient not be suggested as the answer to replace
Hawaiians started to shape wave-riding the average PU boards unless they invent
tools. a technique to build lighter wooden bo-
ards in the future.
A wooden structure results an even lower
environmental impact than from a recycled
foam blank. However, the performance of
the wooden board is different. Generally,
a hollow wood surfboard is 30% to 300%
heavier than a standard foam and resin
surfboard. There are many companies
making wooden boards, like for example,
Imagine Surf. They build boards from cus-
tom wood composites.
”Only board what you can make 100%
ecological is wooden one. Never say
never but it’s unlikely that wooden bo- Mushrooms?
ards will run the market, cause of the Mus
weight and the flexibly. It’s heavy, it’s (PIC: 7)
35Cork? ter and, therefore, it does not rot, it resists
and absorbs impacts thanks to the superb
Cork is the phellem layer of bark tissue that elasticity provided by the cell structure of
is harvested for commercial use primarily the cork itself and the cork tree is one the
from oak trees. It is waterproof, buoyant, trees with the biggest carbon dioxide ab-
elastic, fire resistant and unique in its ap- sorption capacity.
pearance. Because cork is harvested only
from the bark of the cork oak tree (which Amorim Cork Composites is also deve-
means the tree keeps on living and hel- loping cork surfboards for the Hawaiian
ping to clean our air) it is one of the most surfer Garrett McNamara (see picture 8).
highly renewable and eco-friendly resour- This project was launched in 2013 with a
ces on the planet. Cork it is both recyclab- view to designing high efficiency surfbo-
le and biodegradable. This means that ards making use of Portuguese raw ma-
even during the manufacturing process, terials and technology, thus enabling Gar-
cork waste is reused and ground to make rett McNamara to face the most extreme
agglomerated cork products, never going surfing conditions that exist in Nazaré.
to waste. Because of its flexibility, it can
easily replace harmful and pollutant ma- The cork surfboards are developed using
terials, like plastic. (Corcor). a stringer entirely made of cork to replace
the traditional wood stringers. This, in ad-
Spanish company Richpeoplethings has dition to the flexibility that cork offers which
started to build boards made 100% out of translates into a board that feels light and
cork. They say cork is a good material be- responsive.
cause it’s completely natural, recyclable
and biodegradable, it does not absorb wa- (PIC:8)
36Sound too good to be true. Like the com-
pany’s name ’Richpeoplethings’ tells, it’s
expensive to build cork boards and it’s
hard to adapt to serial manufacturing.
Moreover, cork as a material is not easy
to find. When thinking about sustainabi-
lity, the material should be bought local-
ly. Then biggest producer is Portugal so
it could be a potential alternative material
in southwestern Europe.
”It’s more environmentally friendly,
but very expensive material. And the
performance is different. It could ne-
ver be the same price as PU because
you need a lot of work before you even
have a blank.” Birra
(PIC:9)
37Mushrooms? over the world from computer packaging
to insulation to bricks. What really makes
Ecovative developed its eco-friendly My- it special is that it is biodegradable, sus-
celium material to replace all types of ex- tainable, and 100% natural. (California’s
panded foam plastics. Essentially a glue Surf Organic Boards).
made from fungus roots, Mycelium to bind
plant-based materials (usually crop waste Surf Organic boards are already using
like plant stalks and seed husks) into the this technology to make their boards out
finished product. They say it is very strong of mushrooms.
material that floats and repels water just
as effectively as the foam plastics. They ”Making mushroom boards can be a
are currently “collaborating with the in- hobby but you can’t live with that. You
dustry’s top surfboard manufacturers and could start making that but at the be-
shapers” to have their boards out there. ginning it would be 10% of your busi-
ness. Now-one wants to put all of their
The process sounds to be simple, re- money into that risky thing. Maybe the
cycled material is put into a mould and hobby would be a main product in the
leaved it to settle for 10 days in order to future.” Birra
pull out a final product that is consistent
and resistant. It is “foam” grown from ag-
ricultural waste that has been inoculated
with mushroom mycelium. It can grow
into nearly any shape rather easily, with
minimum tools. The material is quite re-
markable. It is being used in products all (PIC:10)
383.2 Alternative Materials - Finishing
Bio-based resin
When talking about bio based resin, we
Moss Eco-Flex surfboards uses plant-ba- have to remember that it is never 100%
sed resin, derived from waste stream ecological because it’s based on petrol.
resources such as pine sap and rapid-re-
newable plant oils (used in the bio fuel in- ”We have tested ecological Epoxy re-
dustry). (Moss Research) sin and it wasn’t bad. Problem was the
price. If it would be cheaper we would
Super Sap made by Entropy Resin is an use it for some boards. Polyester is
epoxy resin partially made from the waste always different and can’t be replaced.
byproducts of the pulp and paper industry We use polyester resin more because
and the biofuels industry, with total bio- it dries faster.” Birra
logical content varying between 25-50%
depending on the specific resin used. According to Imagine Surf, bio-based re-
sins are not as strong, and are not clear
They replace petroleum based carbon with as the epoxy, resulting in boards, which
renewable plant-based carbon. The raw are no longer lasting and not completely
materials going into our resins are co-pro- clear (white).
ducts or waste products of other industrially
important processes. Bio-resin epoxy re-
sin performs essentially the same as pure
petroleum-based epoxy resins. Lifecycle
Analysis on Super Sap shows at least a
50% reduction in CO2 emissions compa-
red to normal resins. (Entropy Resins)
39Natural fibers formance but the problem is the co-
lour.” Birra
One study puts the CO2 impact of fiberg-
Imagine Surf says that they have tested
lass at 5% of the total for a surfboard. Alter-
natives to fiberglass exist, such as woven several natural fibers and it has lead them
bamboo cloth, hemp cloth, and bamboo to bamboo fibers. A bamboo plantation
veneer. These alternatives have varying absorbs 5x more carbon dioxide and puts
impacts on performance, durability, and out 35% more oxygen than the equivalent
visual appearance. Because the overall plantation of trees. Bamboo is also one
CO2 footprint contribution of fiberglass isof nature’s most resistant fibers, and we
only 5%, alternatives to fiberglass are un-were able to weave these fibers together
likely to result in any major environmentalin such a way as to create a very active
benefit through displacing fiberglass alo- and responsive flex pattern in the surfbo-
ne.(Sustainable Surf). ards. Bamboo fiber is also biodegradable
and can be disposed of after the boards
Natural fibers also have technical streng- life is over.
ths, such as good vibration damping ca-
pability and low bulk density. There’s for A French surfboard company Notox uses
example white Biotex flax available, jute flax fiber in their boards and they claim
or hemp fibers. that the flax works better than fiberglass.
They keep their boards brown and use
”I have never tried alternatives for fi- the ecological look as their favour (Pic-
berglass but I know there’s different ture 10). Flax fiber can be bought also in
materials available. Maybe the other white.
fiber could be even better with the per- (PIC: 11)
403.3 Alternative Production Methods
When finding solutions to make the fusion system that will ensure that all of
process more greener, we should also see their trash will be upcycled in to useab-
how the process could be changed. With le product such as fins, bodysurfing han-
or without changing the materials used. dplanes, and other products.
“Why did we start our design process They send their fine particulate waste
with the object and not with looking at (shaping dust and wood scrap-stringer
the system first?” Reis & Wiedemann waste and veneer off cuts) to a farm whe-
re meal worms eat the waste. Just this
We can also focus on recycling part. The new system in place alone reduces their
following question arose: how to get rid of waste by 30%.
the loss material? At this moment most of
the loss material has been unrecyclable They separate and categorise all of their
in the factory. production waste and trash (excess resin,
resinated fiberglass scrap, gloves, resin
Reusing the loss material containers, stir sticks, resinated tape and
sanding dust). It then goes into a three
Earth Technologies has a campaign ”Swit- step operation: shredding, finer particle
ch To Zero Waste” and they are raising separation and then densification through
money via Kickstarter. Their goal is to be- the use of a vacuum infusion system.
come the world’s first Zero Waste Surf-
board and SUP production facility. They Their trash is separated into small enough
want to incorporate a production waste particulates it goes into molds for pro-
breakdown system using an industrial sh- ducts. It then is infused with bio-based
redder, particle reducer, and a vacuum in- epoxy. From these molds they are literally
41turning our excess production waste and first confirmation by researchers that what
trash into functional products. the mealworms excrete is all natural, and
plastic/styrofoam do not hurt the worms
Customers bring their old epoxy board (tra- at all, not even a little bit.
ditional poly boards cannot be recycled!)
in for recycling so we can dispose of it, 3D Printing
instead of it ending up in the landfill where
it will not biodegrade. We several options Red Bull teamed up with printing com-
to recycle it. Boards brought for recycling pany Proto3000 and tried to create a
get stripped of their fiberglass shell and 3D printed surfboard. They were able to
then either get shaped down into a new reduce a good deal of the weight by using
smaller board, turned into Handplanes or a honeycomb pattern infill, but it was still
just plain old food for the meal worms in a bit heavier than ideal. Right now, they’re
The Living Earth Systems. (Ryan Harris). working on developing a dissolvable foam
core to reduce the weight.
Meal worms
Current surfboard production met-
The scientists have discovered that hods involve foam cutting and mol-
mealworms could hold the key to eli- ding, which can suffer from human er-
minating plastic pollution worldwide. ror, so Red Bull’s idea was to perfect
Mealworms can eat nothing but Styro- the process by using digital techno-
foam, then excrete it as biodegradable logy instead. (Scott, Clare).
worm poop, while fulfilling their nutritional
requirements at the same time. Tons of
plastic eating bugs exist, but this is the (PIC: 12)
42Imperial College London has also built a ”I think 3D printing is the future. The
3D printed board. The surfboard project shaper will be the one doing the 3D mo-
received seed funding from NASA. Some del. At the moment it’s still too expen-
of the sections were 3D printed from plas- sive.” Birra
tic bottles melted down and extruded into
filament, and the rest of it was printed with
filament from ALGIX, which creates ma-
terials from an invasive diatomic algae.
(Scott, Clare)
“We believe that 3D printing in the
sports industry has a great future, not
necessarily seeing 3D printed end use
parts in the consumer market due to
costs, but definitely as part of the ma-
nufacturing and design process for
professionals,” (Tam, Caius)
The materials for the 3D printing should
be developed to give good performance
for the board. The problem with the 3D
printed board is the weight. If the struc-
ture could be solved so that the weight is
not an issue, 3D printing could become
more usual technique in the surf industry.
434. Analysis
444.1 The New Wave of the Industry
In the past, there has been many at- “Hard-hitting activist campaigns ”It’s difficult to develop a product from
tempts to build more ecological boards. against big corporations have become scratch, without scratch. We sincerely
The biggest issue with the development part of the sustainability landscape. hope more companies and indie shap-
has been money. Like Birra said, the end Some change the world. Some change ers (especially those that can make
price for the product and the colour (white- little. Telling the difference between one a large impact on reducing our im-
ness) has been the key figures. Will this and the other isn’t easy.” (Gunther). pact) will join the cause.” Surf Organic
change? Will the surfers attitude change Boards
or are they already willing to pay more of Other industries have already changed
a sustainable board? Now the companies their production methods and materials Birra believes that making the industry
working with more greener ways are ba- because because of the customers, for greener is difficult:
sically small factories/ indie shapers and example, the fashion industry. Nobody in
the boards are not that easy to find. would want to buy products that are made ”It’s like the car industry, war between
in abusive conditions. So why would the petrol and electric (alternative) cars
If the green wave would grow and sus- surf industry be different? My opinion is has been going on for almost as long
tainable boards would be more available, as there has been cars. A car running
that if there would be alternatives availa-
maybe the attitude would also change. ble, marketing campaigns would undergo with water already developed, but the
Also the industry is growing because more a big change. developer found dead. Petrol compa-
and more people start to surf. I believe that nies are trying to influence so that the
the values and attitude will change also bit When talking about making the industry industries doesn’t get rid of the petrol.
by bit. When there’s more customers, the more sustainable, companies need to do Before the monopoly decides that they
need for greener (niche) market will also collaboration. Every shaper should help wants, it doesn’t change.” Birra
grow. We live also in a decade where the when developing a green technology in
people (customers) have power to make order to raise awareness and actually in- I believe the biggest problem is between
a change. form people of the idea. our ears. The attitudes must change. My
opinion is that the brownish ecological col-
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