That is some rather attractive packaging. Photo: A New Earth Project
If you’ve ever had the good fortune to unbox a new surfboard, you’ll know first-hand the significant amount of packaging you have to fight through to get to your precious stick. And of the dilemma of getting rid of reams of bubble wrap, meters of packing tape and plastic.
Kelly Slater, who to be fair, receives more new surfboards than the average punter, wanted to find a way to improve that process. Last week he posted a clip online showing a new all-cardboard method of packing surfboards. “The cohesive cardboard sticks to itself and it’s easy to rip along its corrugated lines,” he said. “When you stick it down you don’t need any tape on the inside. That makes it curbside recyclable.”
He outlined that all Firewire surfboards sent to retail outlets and customers will be packed in the new glue, adhesive and plastic-free cohesive cardboard. We’d assume that includes the affiliated Slater Designs and Tomo shapes, which like Firewire models, are all made in Thailand.
The new technology was developed by the New Earth Project and is called the Multi Sustainable Surfboard Shipping System. This isn’t so good if you need to say it three times after drinking a Singapore Sling, but whose recyclable fiber-based materials have eliminated the need for foam and plastic. Another plus side is that the new system can pack 5-7 surfboards in one box, which dramatically cuts down on the amount of packaging. Pyzel, Album and Stewart are other manufacturers currently testing the system.
The New Earth Project is an initiative that aims to bring together the voices of ocean and water advocacy groups. They partner with organizations in the supply chain equipped to bring solutions to the table and help fix sustainability problems in the industry. “With less materials used in the packaging, the packing process becomes more efficient, saving valuable time and labor,” said the founder Wes Carter, who as president of Atlantic Packaging, one of the largest privately held packaging companies in North America, knows a thing or two about the issue. “The customer experience is also significantly improved, with an easier unpacking process.”
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However, it might be said that in terms of finding solutions, the groups might want to look over the pond at the UK’s Flexi-Hex. Cornish twin shred lords and designers Sam and Will Boex started the company in 2015. Their cardboard-based honeycomb design stripped single-use plastic from the production and distribution process, while offering some of the most robust protection for boards of all shapes and sizes. The clips of them testing the sleeves by chucking boards off cliffs are worth a watch. The design has also had similar take-up in the drinks, cosmetics, and electronics industries.
The brothers however recently turned to the larger boxes that were freighting the boards their design was protecting. The brief was simple; they wanted to reduce materials, to save weight and cost on shipping. It had to be easy for the customer to open, made from 100 percent paper and be simple to recycle.
“I’m really proud of the new Flexi-Hex Surfboard box, it’s taken up so many hours of my head space over the last two years refining and developing it,” said Sam Boex. The boxes will go to market soon. Given the success they’ve had in protecting boards, you’d bet the new boxes will be of a gold standard. I mean, just last year the new King of England, Charles the Third, gave them an innovation award.
And yes, it’s worth noting that there is the whiff of putting lipstick on a pig about these breakthroughs. We are aware that the surfboard manufacturing process is largely an environmental clusterfuck. Most conventional surfboards today are built using toxic petroleum-based foams and resins which are generally non-biodegradable and associated with a large carbon footprint.
However, until a better solution is found, or we all stop surfing, boards will be made, and so will they need to be shipped. The move to a plastic-free, recyclable means to package and transport them has to be considered a positive move. If that isn’t sexy, I don’t know what is.
