We all bemoan when a favorite workout item reaches the end of the line, and in many ways whether it is a bike or surfboard, it can feel like a friend passing. But what happens next we ask? While new products often get a lot of attention, less is given to what happens when the new new becomes old? The truth is that much of our new materials aren’t so easy to recycle, and many products that are made from recycled materials can’t be further reused.
Designer/surfer/artist Christopher Anderson is drawing attention to this fact with a new project he’s calling “1000 Surfboard Graveyard,” which aims to provoke new ideas and generate a conversation about the sustainability of high performance surfboards, while looking at their carbon emissions and non-renewable resource consumption and finally their eventual disposal into a landfill
The artist is currently trying to collect and install 1,000 broken surfboards on Garie Beach in New South Wales, Australia as part of a project with Surfrider Foundation Australia. We’ll be sure to follow this story and look for the results.