Skateboard is made of debris trawled from the sea

California's Bureo Skateboards is working with the Chilean government to create Minnow, a skateboard whose deck is made entirely from abandoned fishing nets from the country's coastline.

Humans produce an unfathomable amount of recyclable waste each year, but according to the EPA, some 93 percent of recoverable plastics don’t even make it to a processing plant. On top of this, the oceans often become the final resting place for reusable waste, harming the environment and sealife. In the past, we’ve seen the UK’s Studio Swine use sea debris to create the Sea Chair, and now California’s Bureo Skateboards is working with the Chilean government to create Minnow, a skateboard whose deck is made entirely from abandoned fishing nets from the country’s coastline.

According to the startup, plastic fishing nets are one of the most harmful and prevalent forms of waste found around the shores of Chile, despite the fact that the material is highly durable and recyclable. This fact led the company to set up Net Positiva last year, a fishnet collection and recycling program supported by the Chile government. The scheme collects enough regular waste to provide a continuous supply of material to create its skateboards. Once the nets are processed and broken down, the solution is poured into a mould that gives the Minnow board its distinctive fish shape and scale-pattern grips. The result is a 25-inch body with custom Satori wheels made of vegetable oil and recycled cores and 108mm Paris Trucks. For every board sold, 30 square feet of abandoned fishnets is removed from the ocean.

Watch the video below to learn more about Minnow:

Bureo Skateboards helped fund the release of Minnow through a successful Kickstarter. The board can now be purchased from the company’s webstore for USD 145, shipping in August. Are there other ways to remove harmful waste from the environment and turn it into useable products?