HAWAII – Albizia grows incredibly fast, rocketing up to 15 feet every year and reaching up to 150 feet. Unfortunately they’re also incredibly invasive in Hawaii, with widespread growth taking over four of the islands while outcompeting native plant life. To take care of an invasive species, you have to find a way to destroy it, and putting its materials to use, rather than just filling a landfill, is probably the best way to do so. That’s what the team at Bizia surf shop is focused on.
By using albizia to build their surfboards, Bizia surf shop is both putting an invasive material and species to use while aiming to reduce the toxic petroleum-based products in the world of surfing.
With just one acre of cleared albizia (around 18 trees), the company is able to build 378 chambered wood surfboards. A bio-based epoxy coating takes the fiberglass and petroleum-based resins out of the building process, reducing the board’s impact on the local ecosystem. If fiberglass is needed for a surfboard, Bizia is committed to using a recycled material.
Bizia currently has eight surboards available for purchase, ranging from the 9’0″ Performance Longboard at $3,498 to the 3’10” Swallow Sting Paipo at $385. Their ninth board, the Garrett McNamara Tow Board, is currently marked as coming soon.
Unfortunately I’m not a surfer myself, so I can’t tell you how well these perform, and probably won’t be getting one of these anytime soon, but it’s a really cool concept. I’ve seen plenty of recycled wood options for both skis and snowboards, but it would be pretty sweet to see some invasive materials used for our sport as well. Maybe we’ll see some albizia skis in the future!
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Image Credit: Bizia Surf via Facebook