Paddle Green With The ECO Board Project!

Want to help the environment? Build a board made of plastic bottles.

The idea might sound a bit strange at first, but that is exactly what Brazilian couple Jairo Lumertz and Carolina Scorsin are teaching young kids across Brazil, a fast developing country with an ever increasing problem regarding plastic waste and pollution.

Through the Projeto Prancha Ecológica (Eco Board Project) they give lectures in schools in Brazil and organize events involving teachers and students in developing SUP and surf boards made of plastic bottles and teaching the importance of sport and preserving the environment.  “Our goal is to do lectures all over Brazil, giving everyone a chance to practice sport and learn how to take care of nature”, told Carolina Scorsin to TotalSUP.

“We already gave lectures in seven Brazilian states: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Espírito Santo e Tocantins, and our goal is to present this project in the remaining twenty states that compose Brazil”, said Carolina.

The birth of the Eco Board Project

In 2004, Jairo Lumertz followed every surfer dream when he left Brazil to live in Hawaii, where he stayed for seven years. During that time he decided to combine his love for surfing and nature and created a board made of plastic bottles in 2007. He came back to Brazil in 2011 and met Carolina Scorsin. When Jairo told her about his new invention, she was delighted and started collecting plastic bottles. She collected 88 bottles for the first eco board made in Brazil. They took the board for a test spin in Garopaba Beach, in the state of São Paulo, and it was a great success. Carolina is a mother of two little boys and she became aware of the positive example and values that Jairo was passing them. She then suggested that they both start doing lectures in schools aimed at sustainability and how to make boards from plastic bottles. They started going to schools in Garopaba and the success was huge among teachers and students. According to her, “Jairo has a gift for teaching children in a fun way, and they leave the lectures believing in a better world”. The couple has been going to several schools, promoting sport, the importance of preserving nature and recycling. In Garopaba schools, teachers now make SUP and surf boards with their students and take them to the beach with the boards they made out of bottles recycled by students. Students now live by what they learned and are confident that they can raise an army of nature defenders.

The first Prancha Ecológica Festival in Brazil:

They have now made more than 80 boards. “We pick bottles people throw away, polluting nature, and we also receive them from people who know our project. We only spend money on glue”, explains Carolina. “We can do a board in 4 hours”, she added.

“Our message is simple and effective: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and become a part of a better world. One for all and all for a better world.”

So if you want to help the environment and spread this powerful message, round up a few kids, collect some bottles people threw away and follow these steps in the explanatory video with Jairo Lumertz:

For more info, visit :
https://pt-br.facebook.com/ProjetoPranchaEcologica