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The Ultimate Guide to More Sustainable and Ethical Surfwear

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26 Jan, 2024

This post was originally published on Good on You

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Sourcing more ethical and sustainable surfwear to hit the waves in styles aligned with your morals and your needs can be tricky, so we’ve done the hard work for you and rated and rounded up the best brands for the job.

Inject more sustainability into your surfing

Picture this: it’s early morning, conditions are excellent, the ocean is glassy, the surf has been epic so far, you’re paddling to the line-up, ready to take your last wave of the day. Suddenly, you feel something brush against your hand. IS IT A SHARK? Nope, it’s “just” a plastic bottle. And another. And another. And another. You get the idea.

Plastic pollution, melting ice caps, overfishing, global warming, acidification—you name it. These issues have been all over the news in recent years. The main message? Our oceans are in danger.

Surfing is a sport closely linked to nature, and surfers worldwide have felt the effects consumption and pollution have on the ocean. Surfers’ concern for the environment is inherent and, although the industry is still not perfect, it has started using more ethical and sustainable materials. Many surfing organisations, like Plastic Soup Surfer and Surfrider Foundation, have also been spreading awareness.

However, despite some positive movements in the space, major surfwear brands are not keeping up with the times and are still guilty of harmful production practices. The likes of Billabong (“Not Good Enough”), Rip Curl (“Not Good Enough”), Volcom (“Not Good Enough”), Quiksilver (“We Avoid”), O’Neill (“Not Good Enough”), Roxy (“Not Good Enough”), RVCA (“Not Good Enough”), and Hurley (“We Avoid”) all score “Not Good Enough” or “Very Poor”—our two lowest scores—for the planet, with only Vans coming out with the middling score of “It’s a Start” for the planet and overall.

Thankfully,  these days there’s no need to rely on mainstream brands to get your gear. So if you’re a surfer who’s looking to protect our planet, then the first step might be to choose better, more environmentally-friendly surfwear. Side note: if you’re looking to purchase neoprene wetsuits specifically, you can find some from the brands Patagonia, Seea, and Finisterre as mentioned in this list. Let’s dive into our ultimate guide to more ethical and sustainable surfwear.

The post The Ultimate Guide to More Sustainable and Ethical Surfwear appeared first on Good On You.

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An EPD is a standardised document that provides detailed information about the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. Based on a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, the EPD highlights ABB’s commitment to transparency, environmental responsibility and supporting customers in making informed decisions on sustainability in their supply chains.

ABB analysed the environmental impact of a ring motor across its entire life cycle from supply chain and production to usage and end-of-life disposal. The study was conducted for a ring motor of a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill with an installed power of 24 MW and was based on a reference service life of 25 years.

“Sustainability is at the core of our purpose at ABB, influencing how we operate and innovate for customers,” said Andrea Quinta, Sustainability Specialist at ABB. “By earning the Environmental Product Declaration for our ring motor, we emphasise our environmental stewardship and industry leadership for this technology. We adhered to the highest standards throughout this process, as we do in the ABB Ring Motor factory every day. This recognition highlights to the mining industry what they are bringing into their own operations when they work with ABB.”

The comprehensive LCA was conducted at ABB’s factory in Bilbao, Spain, and was externally verified and published in accordance with international standards ISO 14025 and ISO 14040/14044. It will remain valid for five years.

The ring motor, a key component of the GMD, is a drive system without any gears where the transmission of the torque between the motor and the mill is done through the magnetic field in the air gap between the motor stator and the motor rotor. It optimises grinding applications in the minerals and mining industries by enabling variable-speed operation, leading to energy and cost savings.

The full EPD for the ABB GMD Ring Motor can be viewed on EPD International.

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