This is also from my MySpace blog a couple of weeks back. The major surf clothing manufacturers and the big surf magazines are failing the core surf community and the independent board builders that originally created the community and the lifstyle that they profit from. I’m going on the attack and taking my message to the internet to save our heritage and our future. Any advice on which message boards are the biggest in the surf communty to post up on would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.myspace.com/byrondesign
Bio Boards and Global Responsibility
Some of my Friends know that I’ve been experimenting with a new BoiFoam, so here’s an update on progress.
My friend Chuck Menzal of WetSand had the idea and came across the technology to make soybean based foam blanks instead of the commonly used petroleum based foam blanks. He had some test pieces formulated that we did shaping, resin, UV, and water absorbtion testing on in the summer of '06. The results were positive and he went forward with producing usable surfboard blanks with the soy based BioFoam. About 2 weeks ago I received my first 2 BioFoam blanks and shaped 2 demo fish.
Unfortunately the foam quality was not very good on the 1st 2 BioFoam blanks, very soft and not structuraly sound. I’m not going to glass these 1st 2 boards because I don’t want to put a poor quality board in the water that will fall apart too fast and represent the concept poorly. There are at least 3 other companies working on BioFoam formulations, so there will be viable production blanks available in a renewable material very soon. What this means for surfers who care about the enviornment is that we are working on ways to lessen the harnful impact on our planet that surfboard production creates.
Along with the soy based BioFoam we are also looking into the use of soy based resins that are just as clear, strong, and workable as the standard petro based resin. So not only will the base materials come from a 100% renewable resource, but after these boards are used, broken, and tossed into the landfill they will break down and degrade back into a natural substance.
Other ways we at Byron Design Surfboards at the Basham factory here in San Clemente, California are working on to lessen our negative impact on the enviornment is with the UV Cure Resin system, recycling our used acetone, and by running our sanding and airbrushing rooms with fully operable filtering systems.
Check in the Byron Design pictures section for a photo of the UV Cure Resin lightbox. The UV Cure Resin allows us to greatly reduce the harmful styrene emmissions that MEK Peroxide catalyst causes when mixed with styrene based polyester resin. Boards come out whiter, excess catalyst causes yellowing to occour faster, and when they come out of the UV Cure lightbox after 15 minuets boards are 100% cured for faster turn around time. UV Cure resin is harder to work with, but we strongly feel that the benefits far outweigh the few production difficulties.
Here in California all bisnesses using acetone solvent for cleaning purposes are required to recycle their used acetone. The acetone recycling machine is an expensive set-up, and this is one of the things that adds to the cost of domestically produced surfboards. I urge everyone that cares about the enviornment to check and make sure that the factory you are getting your new surfboards from is using and acetone recycling system. Acetone is highly volatile and soluable and if it’s dumped, the toxins will go directly into local water tables adding to the chemical pollution of the envionment. The same is true with dust collectors in the sanding rooms of surfbaord factories. Here in the US, the EPA requires all abrasive and grinding procedures to be done in a filtered workstation. If the new surfboards you get are not produced in a properly filtered enviornment, then you and your neighbors are breathing harmful particulates commonly know as air polution.
As surfers we can and should care about enviornmental issues. The quality of the ocean water we surf in and the weather patterns that cause the waves we ride are being effected by our impact on the planet. We are not going to reverse mankinds negative effects on enviornment, but we can at least be resposible in managing the resourses we use and the way we use them. This is also important when considering buying a foriegn produced surfboard.
The foriegn countries that are mass producing surfboards do not have the same enviornmetal and labor standards that we have here in the US. The materials they use and the facilities they use them in do not have the same safe-gaurding regulations that add expense to our domestically produced items. There are facilities that pay their employees $1.50 per hour with no workmans comp benefits. There are facilities that pay emeployees that live in factory housing only $5.00 a week. As human beings we need to ask ourselves is this fair? Should we even care?
We should care that 10’s of thousands of factory workers ride their bikes to factory jobs with masks on to protect themselves from polution. We should care that Inuit people living above the Artic circle in some of the most remote areas of the earth are getting sick from chemicals that are reaching them in acid snowfall from pollution carried in the jetstream from Asia. We should care and consider these things when we go and buy our shiny new surfboards. We should use our positions as individuals who are blessed to be fortunate enough to participate in an activity like surfing and help to make sure that enviornmental and labor standards are raised around the world so that all people can have a better quality of life.
I do not support a blockade of foriegn produced poducts, that will never happen. We can, however, with our buying choices make a statement about supporting properly produced and regulate materials, labor standards, and enviormental issues. As surfers, we set the the trends in music, fashion, and activities that the rest of the world emmulates. Let us also set the standards for enviornmental and labor issues.
See ya in the water…Byron
