“I didn’t know there was a problem.” That’s me speaking.
“Surfboards are toxic — they’re incredibly toxic. The nature of surfing is, you have a board, you break it, you chuck it, and then you get
“I didn’t know there was a problem.” That’s me speaking.
“Surfboards are toxic — they’re incredibly toxic. The nature of surfing is, you have a board, you break it, you chuck it, and then you get a new one. Many surfers have multiple surfboards. It’s a big problem.”
On the telephone is Lisa Carpenter, 33, cofounder of Rerip, a North County outfit that started life four years ago as a proto-Craigslist for used surfboards and is mutating into a nonprofit with an eye toward greening surfboards.
“What makes a surfboard so toxic?”
“You have fiberglass, polyurethane, and PU [polyurethane foam]. It takes a trillion years to biodegrade,” Carpenter laughs. “I’m not sure how long, but it’s a long time.
“There’s the process of glassing the surfboard: you put fiberglass on, put resin on top of that. Now, the entire system is non-recyclable: chemicals from glass and resins seep into the foam, which can’t be separated or reused and doesn’t biodegrade, so it sits in landfill forever.
“It’s bad for the person who shapes the board; he’s exposed to carcinogens, dust in the air that’s going to be inhaled, the resins and fiberglass...it’s not a clean activity.”
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