Who we are and what we do
Mission: The ECOBOARD Project by Sustainable Surf helps the board-riding community to build, buy, and ride high-performance sustainable boards. Much more than just the ‘ECOBOARD label’ found on boards from the world’s best surf brands, the ECOBOARD Project educates and engages individuals about the environmental impacts of their lifestyle through the lens of their surfboard.
What’s an ECOBOARD?
An ECOBOARD is a high-performance sustainable board. ECOBOARDS have the same technical performance attributes as any modern water-sport board, while having reduced environmental and toxic impacts – through the use of more sustainable materials and manufacturing processes.
When you see a board displaying the ECOBOARD Level One or Gold Level label we have verified that it has one or more of the following attributes:
- A measurably reduced carbon footprint
- Renewable, recycled and/or up-cycled material inputs
- Uses materials and processes that reduce toxicity during manufacturing
- Reduces waste during manufacturing
ECOBOARD certification levels
Level One
ECOBOARD Level One makes it easy for any board builder to get started making ECOBOARDS. By using one Qualified Material (core or resin), a board will have a significant reduction in environmental footprint without affecting performance, durability, or quality.
A Qualified Material must meet at least one of the following requirements:
- Plant-based, low to zero VOC resin with at least 19% bio-carbon content in the fully cured resin (the sum of all component parts)
- Core with at least 25% recycled or plant-based content, or wood constituting at least 50% of the core by weight
Gold Level
Informed by Sustainable Surf’s ECOBOARD lifecycle assessment, ECOBOARD Gold Level rewards the top sustainable surfboards and surfboard producers – those with the greatest environmental impact reduction.
To qualify as a material specific to the Gold Level designation, a material must meet the following requirements:
- Has been the subject of a lifecycle assessment (LCA) that has been undertaken by an independent third party LCA practitioner. The LCA should incorporate impact indicators relevant to the ECOBOARD Project’s focus areas – carbon footprint, renewable/recycled/up-cycled inputs and reduced toxicity
- Plant-based, low to zero VOC resin with at least 25% bio-carbon content and has received USDA Bio-Preferred certification for the fully cured resin (the sum of all component parts)
- Core with at least 25% recycled or plant-based content, or wood constituting at least 50% of the core by weight
- Demonstrate that qualifying material inputs are sourced from a sustainably managed supply chain
Wooden boards that require little to no resin and/or fiberglass in their manufacture (e.g. an alaia made from FSC Certified paulownia), produced by manufacturers that have been audited and have met the requirements of the Gold Level designation, also qualify as Gold Level boards.Further information about getting listed as a Qualified Material specific to the Gold Level designation can be found in the ECOBOARD Project Program Guidelines.
Want to take a deeper dive?
Featured Blog Posts
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California Surfboard Shop Shapes Sustainable Boards
California Live’s Ross Thomas visits a sustainable surfboard company that is doing their part to go green while riding waves and protecting the ocean. […]
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What’s an ECOBOARD? By Stab Mag
Like straws or single-use plastics, the current materials used in surfboard construction will have to go the way of the dodo. Which is why for Stab’s most recent Stab in the Dark, Mick Fanning rode 11 boards that met Sustainable Surf’s ECOBOARD standards. […]
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Outside TV: Jordy and Lakey ride ECOBOARDS
When your career depends on both a healthy ocean and having the highest performing surfboard under your feet, it’s important that sustainability plays a part in choosing the right boards. And while we could rap about this all day (and night), above and below the water… why not hear it right here, direct from Jordy Smith, Lakey Peterson…