SB_issue55_Digital

“I am happy to
know the first
surfboard in the
world made with
100% vegetable
resin was made
with my hands.
Surfing is life, and
our future will
depend a lot on
taking actions like
this,” he said.
“In 2005 I decided to build a factory in my home
town of Santa Catarina, where we really made
an effort to put an end to surfboard wastage
and developed an environmentally-sound
manufacturing process.
“Two years later I decided to make an ecological
manifesto during the world surfing championship
in Hossegor, France. There, I witnessed a surfing
market that was totally detached from my purpose
and values, so I stopped making epoxy surfboards.
That is when I invented a recycling process with
wooden boards, and I managed to get a green
patent.
“In 2017, I got a call from a person that was in the
process of developing a more eco-friendly resin,
so I bought some of that to apply to my wooden
boards, and that’s when I saw an opportunity to
create a completely natural resin.”
Laminating a board naturally is not an easy task, as
every ingredient is going to affect the resin’s drying
speed, strength, clarity, hardness and weather
resistance. For three years Mario experimented
with all sorts of natural materials until he created
the perfect mixture with castor beans.
Mario said for every board he’s made he has
strived to understand how to work with the
materials, so for the vegetable resin it was no
different.
“So many years were dedicated to finding the
answers to the problems that the vegetable resin
presented to me until I finally validated it for the
market.”
“The resin makes the boards light and strong – and
the amazing thing is that it performs in water just
like a PU board but uses EPS foam.
“I would love other board shapers to have access
to the vegetable resin. In relation to expanding, I
think it would be perfect to start in the country of
surf – Australia. I am open to the idea of starting a
lamination company there and later expand to other
countries.”
Mario said while concocting his unique resin, he
reached out to Entropy Resins, a company that
supplies bio-based epoxy for surfboards.
“From talking to them I discovered that they do use
a lot of clean energy and natural materials in their
product. For epoxy especially, it’s a feat to make it
that environmentally conscious. However, making
epoxy still leaves a lot of emissions no matter what,
which is why I wanted to focus on a new type of
resin that produced little to no carbon emissions.
“Right now, the biggest hurdle I have found with my
resin is that, to cure the oil completely, it needs a
few months. It’s like making wine. At the moment
the resin cannot be used on white boards either,
only colour, because it has little UV protection.”
Mario is in the process of launching a new series
of boards laminated with his vegetable resin.
In his spare time, he uses the leftover resin to
create earrings from dried leaves in an attempt to
showcase that synthetic materials are not needed
to create beautiful products.
Mario said he realises that professional surfers are
the most influential opinions of the industry, and so
what they think and use – the market accepts.
“It’s with the help of professional surfers
that we can change the overuse of
toxic resins and begin to use more
ecological and sustainable methods
of laminating boards.
“We all know surfing is wonderful,
it’s a lifestyle for many people,
but it needs to evolve a lot in its
environmental awareness.
“I am happy to know the first
surfboard in the world made
with 100% vegetable resin
was made with my hands.
Surfing is life, and our future
will depend a lot on taking
actions like this,” he said.
folhabyferminio
67 / #55 / SB