German SUP & surfboard brand CALA and USA company BLOOM have jointly developed surf mats made of sustainable algae foam. All CALA stand-up paddle boards are currently equipped with the new algae foam mats.
In a release, CALA notes that… ‘the fossil fuel-based economy releases vast amounts of carbon, which among other things causes water temperatures to rise and harmful algae blooms to occur.’
Mississippi-based company BLOOM began researching algae as a novel, sustainable resource to replace non-renewable, fossil-based materials back in 2007.
Sebastian Grazzini, founder of CALA, and Ryan Hunt, co-founder of BLOOM, first met in 2019 to explore the development of more sustainable stand-up paddling products using BLOOM foam.
In 2020, the project gained momentum and together the two companies began prototyping and testing premium pads on CALA boards made from BLOOM foams.
Algae is one of the oldest photosynthetic organisms on earth and the origin of plants and trees. Excessive CO2 emissions, global warming and water pollution can cause excessive and environmentally harmful algal blooms.
BLOOM has developed a practical recycling method for this. The company has found that algae can be an excellent substitute for some conventional plastics for many products.
“We hope that all water sports enthusiasts will not only be enthusiastic about the fun and feeling of freedom that they can also experience on our boards, but also actively support the conservation of the oceans,” said Sebastian Grazzini at CALA. “We at CALA are happy to be a role model for this.”
Ryan Hunt at BLOOM added “The cooperation with CALA is exciting for BLOOM because it offers the opportunity to support the water sports industry in developing more sustainable products using regenerative materials such as algae.”
In a release, CALA noted… ‘Algae can grow up to a hundred times faster than plants and trees, produces more oxygen and sequesters more carbon than all forests combined.’
BLOOM harvests algae from lakes and sewage treatment plants and dries it. Through extrusion (pushing the material through a machine), this algae biomass is combined with polymers to make resin pellets, which in turn can be used to make more sustainable products.
www.calaboards.de
www.bloommaterials.com
