Surf & Sustainability
Welcome to the very first edition of INDORIDER Surf & Sustainability. Each month - separate from our regular newsletter - we’ll share stories and insights on how surfing can better align with the health of our planet.
On the surface, surfing feels like the ultimate sustainable sport. We don’t need stadiums, fuel, or machines — just waves and a board. But the reality is much more complicated. Behind every ride, there is an unseen environmental cost.
The wetsuit keeping us warm, the boards under our feet, the T-shirt from our favourite surf brand— they’re all products of an industry still rooted in petroleum, plastics, and waste.
Wetsuits
Neoprene, the material in most wetsuits, is made from petroleum. Its production is energy-intensive, pumping CO₂ into the atmosphere. Every session in the water starts with a carbon footprint.
Apparel
Surf culture has also been caught up in fast fashion. Cheap T-shirts, printed with Plastisol inks containing PVC and phthalates, stick around in landfills long after the trends fade.
Conventional cotton strains ecosystems with pesticides and heavy water use.
Polyester, made from fossil fuels, sheds microplastics into the ocean we’re trying to protect.
Surfboards
The heart of surfing — and its heaviest burden.
Each year, around 800,000 surfboards are made.
About 750,000 of them rely on toxic materials like polyurethane foam, fiberglass, and petroleum-based resins.
Roughly 400,000 boards are discarded annually, most ending up in landfills.
We did some sums:
A single shortboard contains 3–4 kg of plastic. A longboard? Up to 8 kg. Add that up, and discarded boards contribute to:
1,600–3,200 tonnes of plastic waste every year — the equivalent of 80 million 500ml plastic water bottles into landfill sites. Yes, you read that correctly, 80 million plastic bottles.
The good news? Change is already happening. Innovators are rethinking materials, designing eco-friendlier wetsuits, developing organic textiles, and crafting surfboards with the planet in mind. Across the surf industry, forward-thinking companies are proving that sustainability and performance can go hand in hand. Now, the choice is up to us as consumers.
Of course, sustainable options often come at a higher cost — but maybe that’s how it needs to be. Perhaps we buy less and make what we have last longer. Does a ding, heavy dent or scratch really ruin a surfboard for most abilities? Does a sun-bleached board that looks old and shabby make any difference in the water? Or can we ride it for longer, knowing we’re reducing waste? Is paying a little extra for durable, organic fabrics really such a burden, especially if they last far longer? Does spending slightly more on non-toxic surf wax matter when the tradeoff is protecting the very oceans we ride?
From Fins to wetsuits, boards to apparel, there are sustainable options. Consumers, producers and surf bodies such as the World Surf League must work together.
These are the questions we have to ask ourselves — as surfers, and as stewards of the planet.
