Bureo takes skating a little bit more seriously than your average board manufacturer. Its boards not only perform and deliver rider satisfaction, but they also remove pollution from the ocean. Not just boards for riding, but boards that carry a powerful message.
Bureo
Founded in 2012 in Los Angeles, California, Bureo crafts skateboards from recycled fishing nets. Its recycling program based in Chile, ‘Net Positiva’, sees fishermen deposit old fishing nets at collection points across the coastlines. The team then collects these nets and recycles the plastic in boards.
Discarded fishing nets account for 10% of the total plastic pollution in the ocean. Bureo’s ingenuity not only helps to remove this pollutant, but their recycling program also goes a long way to help local fishing communities. The programme gives an incentive to fishermen and provides financial support and backing. They also help educate young people in Chile about creating cleaner oceans.
To date, its program has recycled over 80,000kg of discarded materials.
Once collected, the nets are washed and prepared for a mechanical recycling process. Within this process, they are shredded and fed through a ‘pelletizer’, where they are melted and cut into small recycled pellets. These pellets are then injected into steel moulds to form the boards.
Bureo provides a tangible solution to a difficult problem. Ocean pollution is growing. Something which has hugely negative implications for our coastline, and wildlife. Only last year several sperm whales were found dead on a beach in Germany with stomachs full of plastic. Bureo is making a positive change; one that encourages learning through play. The best type of learning.
Featured image: Bureo’s Facebook page
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