Firewire Surfboards and Slater Designs Commit to Plastic Free Shipping

The system for packaging and shipping surfboards is archaic and wasteful.

From the surfboard manufacturers to the surf shops, everyone ships boards the same way: Wrap a board (or boards) in sheets of foam and plastic, and tape everything together. Then add bubble wrap, EPS foam scraps, throw it all in a box, and hope for the best in the hands of UPS.

Sure, it (mostly) works, but it also results in a tremendous of amount of waste, as the plastic is rarely reused, going straight to the landfill instead.

"I'd get these boxes in Hawaii every year, and I'd have all this garbage left over, bubble wrap and whatever," Kelly Slater tells Barton Lynch on The Stoked Bloke Show recently. "I know it ends up in the dump, or it’s burning. So I eventually told Travis [Lee, from Firewire], 'I do not care if I get a ding in my board. Just send it in a cardboard box, and tape it together. Don’t use any extra plastic, I don’t want all of this crap anymore.'"

Slater goes on to tell Lynch that, despite his request, boards were still being shipped to him full of plastic waste. Different factory workers either not getting his message, or wanting to protect his boards.

Eventually, Slater was introduced to A New Earth project through longtime friend Peter King, which solves that exact problem. Started by Wes Carter from Atlantic Packaging, it's a brand new way for shipping surfboards without adding a shred of plastic. Instead, they use telescoping boxes, silicone rubber bands, and a fiber-based suspension system that protects all parts of the board. (Check the video here to see it in action.)

So, going forward, all Firewire surfboards will be packaged and shipped this way.

While Firewire isn't the first to make the switch (Pyzel, Album, Stewart and many others are also testing the system), they are one of the first to publicly state they are shipping 100% plastic free by the end of this year.

Surely, every major manufacturer and surf shop will follow suit soon.