UK companies produce eco-surfboard.

Three companies in Cornwall, UK, have combined their expertise to produce a surfboard that has a 55% renewable content. The principal partners are sister companies Sustainable Composites and Movevirgo, based in Redruth. They are producing a polyurethane foam core blank (Ecoblank), made from 40% vegetable oil, and a resin system (EcoComp UV-L) with a vegetable oil content of more than 96%. The foam blank is based on castor oil and the resin system on linseed oil. The board is made by St Agnes-based Laminations using traditional hand lay-up techniques. The sustainable board has all the traditional qualities of strength and lightness, and is expected to appeal to many board users with ‘green’ sympathies, both in the UK and the US. It is likely to cost 10-20% more because of the higher cost of its vegetable oil-based constituents, but there will be handling benefits, such as an absence of solvents, in board manufacture.

Sustainable Composites was formed as an R&D company in 2003 to develop eco-friendly manufacturing materials made from sustainable crops. It works in partnership with Movevirgo, which over an eight-year period had developed a number of hybrid composite techniques using natural reinforcement with man-made resin options.

An order for one tonne of the EcoComp resin system has been received recently from a surfboard manufacturer in San Diego. Other applications for Ecoblank are under development for insulation uses in the construction and refrigeration markets.