but with recycled wetsuits still a way off, there s one other key message of sustainability i can get on board with, and that s repair. so, i ve been looking at my own suit. this is years old. and i was thinking about getting a new one but now, i think i m just going to patch it up. it can definitely last for a few more years like that. so, how s my new, recycled surfboard coming on? it s time to pick it up from local shaper dan. oh, my god! look at it! oh, my god. it is gorgeous! and this is the colour that will make it unpopular. that s the thing. if you use it in the right way, it s not it s actually an all right colour especially when you see the actualfinished product come up. you can see like a the little sparkly effects to it. yeah. it s not exactly it s not a horrible brown. this blank is perfect for, like, eco credentials, longevity.
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. we ve taken the thousand wetsuits that were destined for landfill, sent them off to bulgaria and the
because, once again, the petrochemical industry is behind the traditional 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
option isn t going to be easy because, once again, the petrochemical industry is behind the traditional 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,
why wouldn t you change? the industry says it s already supporting the development of alternative wetsuits. the surf industry members association told us it s been: but with recycled wetsuits still a way off, there s one other key message of sustainability i can get on board with, and that s repair. so, i ve been looking at my own suit. this is years old. and i was thinking about getting a new one but now, i think i m just going to patch it up. it can definitely last for a few more years like that. so, how s my new, recycled surfboard coming on? it s time to pick it up from local shaper dan. oh, my god! look at it! oh, my god. it is gorgeous! and this is the colour that will make it unpopular. that s the thing. if you use it in the right way, it s not it s actually an all right colour especially when you see the actualfinished product come up. you can see like a the little sparkly effects to it. yeah. it s not exactly it s not a horrible brown.