just over 950. less than four weeks we ve gathered these. yeah. we found these ones, which have got to be from the 80s or 90s. it s in really good condition. it s really good condition! neoprene is such a strong material that they ve used it line landfill in the past, so that goes to show how long it will take to degrade. yeah. but when it does, it s so harmful for the environment. have you got any idea of the scale of the problem you re trying to tackle? in all honesty, until we started this collection, not really. like, the stats aren t even out there. we ve had to do our own research to look at the size of the global wetsuit market. we ve conservatively come to probably about 8000 tons of neoprene a year will ultimately end up in landfill because there s nowhere else to put them. so, what do they plan to do with all these old, washed up wetsuits? well, six months later, this is the result. it may not look much but company boss tom kay thinks it could be the future.
make a difference. i offset all of my carbon, but i do know that that is sort ofjust putting a plaster over the wound. i really try to be selected with the brands i work with, i try to make sure they are brands that have good ethoses and are trying to be more sustainable and supporting that. it is often hard to turn down a big pay cheque! laughs. if they re a brand that isn t sustainable, but it is more worthwhile in the long run. you have done that? really? 100%. from a company you feel hasn t fulfilled your. yeah, just fast fashion or things that don t align with what i believe in, really. there is definitely examples of how those brands can be more sustainable, and how they can have less impact on the environment, and i think they need to take the onus and make that difference. because one of her true passions is to inspire the next generation. you do want to encourage people to get outdoors but at the same time, at what cost
took the us well by storm. it doesn t cost a lot, you can buy it in a supermarket, and it s known as the people s board. it s a long way from the wooden works of art of the ancient hawaiians. it s been blamed for making boards so cheap, they can just be thrown away. today, the company says it s doing things in a more sustainable way. mark dale is the company s chief marketing officer. so, this is where we do a lot of lamination on the boards. the factory uses the latest tech to reduce its waste and reliance on those toxic resins. the cores are loaded to machine and we re using hot air here and it s applying the raw material right onto the board. we don t use any epoxies or glues that are damaging to the environment. the company says the carbon impact of manufacturing here is 90% less than rival boards. 0ur carbon footprint,
wetsuit material, neoprene. it s been used to manufacture them for more than 70 years. it s energy intensive to make and the toxic chemical it s made from is a possible carcinogen. and a neoprene wetsuit isn t going to biodegrade any time soon. it s estimated abouti million are incinerated or end up in landfill every year. recycling them hasn t been an option. ..until now. in an anonymous lock up in east london, one british surf company has been collecting old wetsuits its customers had lying around. this is the collection of suits that we gathered, and i think. that s a lot of suits. ..just in this pile here, we ve probably got about just over 950. less than four weeks we ve gathered these. yeah. we found these ones, which have got to be from the 80s or 90s. it s in really good condition. it s really good condition! neoprene is such a strong material that they ve use it
line landfill in the past, so that goes to show how long it will take to degrade. yeah. but when it does, it s so harmful for the environment. have you got any idea of the scale of the problem you re trying to tackle? in all honesty, until we started this collection, not really. like, the stats aren t even out there. we ve had to do our own research to look at the size of the global wetsuit market. we ve conservatively come to probably about 8000 tons of neoprene a year will ultimately end up in landfill because there s nowhere else to put them. so, what do they plan to do with all these old, washed up wetsuits? well, six months later, this is the result. it may not look much but company boss tom kay thinks it could be the future. we ve taken the thousand wetsuits that were destined for landfill, sent them off to bulgaria and they ve been repurposed into a foam wetsuit like material that we are now testing in some cold water products this autumn. right.