Green Foam Blanks’ Environmental Efforts

mike lewis

• November 20 2009
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The New York Times featured an article on San Clemente’s Green Foam Blanks and their efforts to green the industry with recycled polyurethane blanks.

According to writer Todd Woody: Polyurethane surfboards are made with a carcinogenic chemical compound, and Green Foam aims to reduce demand for new polyurethane by recycling the considerable amount of waste produced when shaping a surfboard from a slab of foam. Old surfboards can be recycled as well.

Gary Petersen is a former member of the California Integrated Waste Management Board, a state agency that oversees recycling programs. “The surfboard industry does not produce the tens of millions of tons of waste annually as municipalities do, but it has significant impact with toxins,” said Mr. Petersen, who has been advising Mr. Santley.

Mr. Santley also hopes to tap the automotive market — he has sent samples of recycled polyurethane to Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley electric-car maker, to be evaluated for use in dashboards. But Green Foam’s focus for now is on surfboards.

Since beginning production earlier this year, Green Foam has made about 1,000 blanks. A surf industry insider with connections to Hollywood and the music business, Mr. Santley has mounted a guerrilla marketing campaign to get recycled surfboards in the hands of celebrities, respected surfboard builders and pro surfers.

The actor Matthew McConaughey rides a Green Foam board as does the rocker Perry Farrell and the singer-surfer Jason Mraz. “I understand that humans have to learn to do more with less, therefore the products I use, like a surfboard for instance, I prefer to be made with our environment in mind,” Mr. Mraz wrote in an e-mail message.

Matt Biolos, a leading surfboard shaper and owner of Lost Enterprises in San Clemente, said that he had made 100 Green Foam surfboards so far and that he expected they could easily become 10 to 15 percent of his annual production of 8,000 boards. “The demand is surprising,” he said.

Read the rest of the article HERE.