Eden Project launches Eco Surf Board

The Eden Project launched an environmentally friendly surfboard which could "revolutionise" the industry, creators said.

The new board was produced by the Eden Project and started life as a giant balsa tree which fell to the ground in the Rainforest Biome at its site near St Austell, Cornwall, in south west England.

Over five years, staff at Eden worked with three other companies, Homeblown, Sustainable Composites and Laminations, to produce the board which is made from 50 per cent renewable materials.

The move is a significant step forward from the petroleum chemicals used in traditional surfboard production.

Mermaid's Tears

Globally, 100 million tonnes of plastic are generated each year and at least 10 per cent of that is finding its way into the sea. The United Nations Environmental Program now estimates that there are 46,000 floating pieces of plastic for every square mile of ocean. Some of that rubbish circulating the globe is 30 metres deep.

Each year, 113 billion kilograms of small plastic pellets nicknamed Mermaid's tears -the feedstock for all disposable plastics - are shipped worldwide and a scary proportion are going astray during transfer. These spilled pellets are ending up in gutters and drains and eventually getting carried into the ocean. Research carried out by the Marine Conservation Society in 2007 revealed these plastic pellets are the second most common litter item found on UK beaches.

By their very nature Mermaids Tears do not biodegrade, absorb harmful polychlorinated biphenyls in concentrations up to a million times greater than the surrounding seawater and they can also be a deadly threat to sea life, which mistake them for food.

Last summer Surfers Against Sewage released a film that exposes poor industry practice from 'plastic injection moulding factories', which is leading to the pollution epidemic of the UK's waterways and coastline. The evidence of the waste ending up on Cornish beaches was clear to see when then cameras filmed the shoreline down at Porthtowan.

Finisterre & Observer Ethical Awards = Cornish Gold

I'm a bit behind the curve on this news but I couldn't not give it a mention. Earlier this month Finisterre , the Cornish surf culture company, won the Observer Ethical Award for Ethical Business of the Year. Fantastic recognition for the hard work and real commitment the guys have given to founding and successfully running an ethical, sustainable, inspiring and individual company.

Here's why the judges awarded Finisterre with the Gold...

We're not into the whole corporate culture or in a rush to achieve super-aggressive sales targets,' says Finisterre founder Tom Kay, who set up the winning ethical surf-wear brand six years ago with a Prince's Trust grant. To be honest, his corporate disclaimer is superfluous once you visit the three Finisterre idealists who run the brand from their surfer caravans in St Agnes, Cornwall.

This is clearly no normal fashion label. In fact, it's all about 'testing convention', from the way they (very efficiently) run their mail order through the tiny local post office, shun cheap fabrics in favour of renewable or recyclable fibres, and have pulled out of China ('That would be considered commercial suicide for most sportswear brands,' says marketing man Ernie Capbert) in favour of working with nuns in Colombia and a women's outreach project.

Our panellist eco-designer Max McMurdo appreciated the way the brand had resisted the temptation to go too high end, as so many ethical labels do, and admired the way Finisterre refused to 'distance itself from the high street' but instead normalised ethical production. The design is not bad either. GQ magazine declared the Finisterre Anabatic shell jacket one of the '100 Best Things Right Now' last year. Now we declare it an ethical winner.

Go here to see the award video and find out more.