Firstly, I use polystyrene myself for boards and like it. I also use polyurethane. But this is for all you proponents of EPS’s “enviromentally friendliness”.
A California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) report found that “in the categories of energy consumption, greenhouse gas effect, and total environmental effect, EPS’s environmental impacts were second highest, behind aluminum.”[8] Restricting the use of foamed polystyrene takeout food packaging is a priority of many solid waste environmentalist organizations, like Californians Against Waste.[9]
That was from Wikipedia. As I said, I like using polystyrene and the above is to be taken with a grain of salt. But as for enviromentally friendliness, well don’t try and promote your boards for being recyclable, enviromentally friendly and all that crap simply because your using EPS or you might be had up for false advertising!
Also to add to the above “my board is recyable because it uses EPS” rubbish is the fact that you would have to remove all the fibreglass, plugs and stringer just to recycle it. Who’s going to bother! I think EPS also takes 900 years to biodegrade?
Does this mean that you should stop using EPS right now? Well I’m not, in fact if anything I’m going to be using more! But I really can’t stand the shit some enviromentalist do gooders try and serve up.
Oh and don’t forget we’re poisoning the planet because of all the CO2. Trees need CO2 to survive by the way and plants grow well in a greenhouse. Now it’s back to our regularly scheduled program.
Oh and don't forget we're poisoning the planet because of all the CO2. Trees need CO2 to survive by the way and plants grow well in a greenhouse.
I hope you don’t think that by pumping out CO2 we’re ‘feeding the trees’. The problem is that, among other things, we are cutting down the trees that would have absorbed the CO2, when we should be planting more to clean up our mess.
I think it’s got to the stage where I can safely say that if you don’t believe that humans are affecting the climate you’ve got your head in the sand.
If surfers want to be more environmentally friendly they should look at other parts of their lives and not their quiver for the answer.
Yes, it would be nice to have an environmentally friendly board (wood?) but at the end of the day its about marketing for surfboard manufacturers. They are doing it to increase sales and decrease bad press.
If you want to have a guilt free board, buy from your local shaper, to reduce the impact of shipping, and just hope than the guy has a conscience and is trying (on a personal level) to reduce his impact on the environment.
A California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) report found that “in the categories of energy consumption, greenhouse gas effect, and total environmental effect, EPS’s environmental impacts were second highest, behind aluminum.”[8] Restricting the use of foamed polystyrene takeout food packaging is a priority of many solid waste environmentalist organizations, like Californians Against Waste.[9]
Oh and don’t forget we’re poisoning the planet because of all the CO2. Trees need CO2 to survive by the way and plants grow well in a greenhouse. Now it’s back to our regularly scheduled program.
So what they are saying is it takes more energy and releases more co2 to be manufactured?
The surfing industry would not be that big of a factor in my opinion, when you consider the packaging industry and the fast food containers. I work near our county dump and see plenty of food containers and chunks of packaging foam blowing around, never seen a broken surfboard fly by. Also, it may take 900 years to breakdown, but it is also used in potting soil for keeping the soil light and un-compacted and helps to retain water. So if recycled properly it doesn’t have to be so bad.
If manufacturers like surftech are cranking eps boards out by the thousands, maybe they should have a return policy for broken/used boards. The people using eps for custom shapes are probably not using that much in comparison, but could still offer a way for their customers to return the boards to them to be recycled. That would help cover the “enviromentally friendly” sales pitch. Then the only question is, how can the epoxy covered fiberglass be recycled?
The thing with the CO2, I have recently heard (on discovery channel I think) some scientists are saying there is too much CO2 in the air for the trees to handle and they are putting out the excess CO2 instead of producing oxygen for us to breathe. So that too, how much of it are we to belive? How much is propaganda? Hard to tell, I am no scientist but do feel we are making some sort of impact on the planet all in the name of profit and big compaines trying to rule/ruin the world.
the surfboard industry isn’t the worst in the world but ‘every little bit helps’, people should feel more positive about buying a locally shaped ‘green’ board, rather than a carbon soaked one from China. It is a sales pitch but you get what you pay for, peace of mind. And I applaud those manufactures/shapers who do have a conscience.
I try to do my bit and I hope others do too.
I’m not a saint, I live 50 miles from the beach and have put 7000 miles on my car this year which is all purely recreational.
Howzit DrAL, What we should be planting is switch grass. Not only does it convert the highest amout for biofuels, it is a great co2 absorber even after it’s cut, the stubble keeps absorbing. Corn is the worst and we are seeing what happens when it’s used, higher food costs and now with the floods we are really looking at higher prices. The thing that gets me is why we don’t start growing sugar cane again in Hawaii, it may not yield as much fuel as switch grass but it does yield more then corn and the bagasse byproduct can be used as fuel for generating electricity ( it was done for years here on Kauai ) This would provide not only a renewable fuel source but would create jobs. Aloha,Kokua
My chemistry or botany isn’t my strong point but i’m with ya.
However maybe you can answer this,
If the plants in question absorb CO2, is it released again when burnt? How clean are biofuels? Or is their advantage that they can be grown again, whereas the oil WILL run out.
And also, Hawaii = wave/wind/solar/geothermal power
Howzit DrAL, Good chance CO2 will be released when burned but there are scrubbers that will absorb it like used in the coal industry. As for Hawaii’s natural reusable resources yes we have all of them but the government here acts like they have their heads buried in the sand when it comes to using these resources. We have had a hydrogen producing company named OTEC for many years that works but on a small basis. Why haven’t we expaned this for hydrogen based autos, ask the government. They should be helping to fund and enlarge this project, but don’t as far as I know. The project also desalinates water which is good because all of our water comes from rain and the water tables are dropping and getting close to the salt water level. Here on Kauai a couple of years ago they looked into wind farming but the newbies were against it because they felt it would ruin the scenic views. We already are paying over 41 cents a KWH ( highest in the nation) and it won’t get better. Hopefully the government will finally open their eyes and do something.Aloha,Kokua
It would be nice to see sugar return. I grew up in Ewa surrounded by cane on one side and ocean on the other.
The sugar mills were the original providers of electricity in Hawaii. For many years, they provided excess power to the electric companies on Kauai, Oahu, and the Big Island. HC&S still generates electricity for Maui.
Now that the old mills are gone, it would be interesting if a company could build a new high tech sugar mill with all the environmental updates the original mills didn’t have.