Blue Innovation: The Cigarette Surfboard
Close up of cigarette surfboard on the beach. Image credit: The Cigarette Surfboard
Blue Innovation is excited to announce The Cigarette Surfboard as an exhibitor on September 11.
Beach and ocean pollution is no joke. On the 2020 International Coastal Cleanup Day, 82,000 people collected over 2.6 million pounds of trash off of beaches, and that’s just one day. What was the #1 most littered item collected? Cigarette butts.
Where it all began…
Two dudes from California, Ben Judkins, and Taylor Lane grew up witnessing the impact of ocean and beach pollution on the daily. Taylor grew up in Venice Beach, California, and graduated from San José State University in 2017 with a B.S. in Industrial Design. Ben Judkins was raised in Northern California and majored in film production at the University of California Santa Cruz. Both had a passion for the ocean and frequently surfed the waves and spent time on local beaches.
Ben Judkins holding camera (left image) and Taylor Lane holding hammer (right image)
From butts to boards
In 2017, Vissla and the Surfrider Foundation held an international competition called the “Creators Contest”, to see who could create an article of surf-craft out of upcycled materials. With cigarette butts being the most prevelant littered item lining beaches and waterways, Ben and Taylor knew they had to come up with a way to highlight this issue and upcycle thousands of cigarettes…and thus, the idea for The Cigarette Surfboard was born.
Using cigarette butts that had been collected from various beach cleanups, fibreglass, and a bio-based epoxy resin called Entropy, Ben and Taylor were able to craft the first Ciggy Board which ultimately won the competition and won the hearts and minds of surfers, environmentalists, and everyday citizens.
Today, Ben and Taylor continue to use cigarette butts, surfing, and filmmaking to build ocean mindfulness and stewardship. To learn more about Cigarette Surfboard go to: https://www.thecigarettesurfboard.com/backstory
The Cigarette Surfboard team will be bringing surfboards for you to see and touch at Blue Innovation!