While skateboarders may like to “thrash” one skateboard company is instead looking to trash. Bureo Skateboards has picked up on the old adage that one man’s trash is another’s treasure and the company is looking to reduced the plastic pollution along Chile’s coastline while at the same time producing new skateboards.
The company is among 85 businesses that were accepted out of 1,300 applicants into Start-Up Chile, a government-sponsored accelerator program that provides these start-ups with $40,000 to get rolling. Bureo Skateboards was reportedly the only non-technology based company accepted into the program but clearly its message struck a nerve with someone.
North¬eastern alumnus Ben Kneppers is the company’s co-founder, and he previously received $10,000 in gap funding from IDEA, the Northeastern student-run venture accelerator. Thanks to this Bureo team has made it their mission to make a difference and contribute to the fight against plastic pollution in the oceans, while providing innovative skateboards on lane.
Bureo Skateboards
[Via news@Northestern: From plastic pollution to sustainable skateboards]
Plastics maybe fantastic, unless you consider the ecological footprint it leaves. This is why ZEAL Optics have created a new line of sunglasses made from plant-based materials – and this isn’t just the frames; it is the lenses as well. These glasses are made from using seeds from the castor plant, and these still offer protection from UVA, B and C rays, while the lens feature a hard coating to resist scratches.
One thing is clear about this bike, the frame! The German designed Clarity Bike does indeed evoke the thoughts of “clarity.” While obviously a concept bike, the folks at DesignAffairs could be on to something with this bike, which is constructed of Trivex, a transparent polymer commonly used for aircraft windscreens. If it keeps the wind and bugs out of soldier’s hair it must be good enough for a concept bike.
Carbon fiber is a wondrous material, but it has some shortcomings including the fact that it isn’t that easy to recycle. However, last week came word that the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory was working on a way to transform used plastic bags into carbon fiber, and this composite could even be fine-tuned, allowing different types of carbon fiber to be created for specific applications. 
We’d hate to be in the plastic water bottle business right now, as it doesn’t seem like anyone has much positive to say about the products. While the water is good, the problem is that the bottles tend to end up in landfills or worse floating in the Pacific Ocean in that big mass of plastics!