Sustainable surfboards: SwellCycle turns plastic hospital waste into unique boards

A company born out of its founders’ desire for a more sustainable surfboard and a long-time passion for 3D printing is getting closer to starting preorders. SwellCycle just marked its first anniversary, but it’s already gaining a lot of attention for its boards made from recycled plastic waste. Out of its headquarters in the Wrigley Building on the Westside of Santa Cruz, the company now readies for that launch. 

Co-founder Patricio Guerrero, 30, grew up surfing in Southern California before moving to Santa Cruz three years ago, drawn by the ample surfing opportunities and arts community. His epiphany came when he was surfing in Santa Cruz and his leash broke, sending his board careening into rocks where it was significantly damaged.

“I spent the next two months trying to fix it,” he said. “And during that whole time, I realized how much (foam) waste was being generated from just fixing the board … and when I was cutting into the foam, I was seeing all the microplastics going everywhere. It was a big mess.”

That got him thinking about how to create a more sustainable option, one less dependent on single-use plastics and other bad-for-the-earth materials. Guerrero had been experimenting with 3D printing since he was a kid in the 2010s, and decided to use that technology to try to create a better, greener surfboard. 

A typical surfboard is made of polyurethane foam and polystyrene, materials that are great for buoyancy and durability, but not great for the environment. The SwellCycle team needed to find something that was still great for surfing, but wouldn’t melt or warp if left in a hot car. The answer turned out to be plastic packaging that hospital equipment comes in.

That material is then melted down and turned into a filament that can be loaded into the 3D printer. To put it simply, a 3D printer uses materials like thick waxes or polymers to create an object layer by layer, resulting in a three-dimensional object. SwellCycle gets the printing material from a company in the Netherlands. 

The healthcare industry is one of the largest waste-producing sectors in the nation, accounting for an estimated 14,000 tons of waste generated daily, according to research published in the American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics. And about 20-25% of that is plastic, the bulk of which can’t be recycled. 

For Guerrero, being able to divert some of that plastic waste from the landfill touched a nerve; during the pandemic, he’d helped with a project that used 3D printers to create face shields for Los Angeles-area hospitals and got a close look at how much plastic was being wasted, from syringes to plastic cups and the packaging that equipment comes wrapped in.

Guerrero knew his co-founders, Nathan Jackarzi and Pol Riera, from his college days. He’d worked with Jackarzi on several projects, including the face shield project, and he’d surfed regularly with Riera. He reached out to both after creating his first board, knowing Riera’s keen eye for shaping and design would be an asset, given his background working for a surfboard manufacturer. He’d also seen Jackarazi’s dedication and focus firsthand, and knew his “ability to make crazy things happen” would be key, said Guerrero.

After finding their material, the three-man team has been hard at work doing research and development, creating different designs and trying boards out in real-world conditions to see how they fare. The founders didn’t just want to create a board that was sustainable; they needed to ensure it would actually perform the same as other boards and stand up to harsh waves. Through their website, they’ve encouraged people to sign up and try the boards. So far, about 50 people have demoed the boards, including Santa Cruz surfer Tyler Fox and South Africa’s Grant “Twiggy” Baker, a champion big wave surfer. 

Now, a year after officially launching, SwellCycle has created a product and process its founders believe in, and they’re planning to start accepting preorders for their boards in the coming weeks. For now, they’ll be selling the boards directly, but Guerrero said they’re also looking into partnerships with surfboard manufacturers or distributors.  

Currently, it takes a few weeks to create a single board – including three days for printing and another two to three weeks for glassing, the process by which fiberglass is applied to waterproof and finish the board. Speeding up that process is just one more goal for the company as it prepares for its first commercial sales. Their aim is to produce 140 boards a month once they’ve fully ramped up. Currently, they’ve printed about 65 boards and fully glassed 42 of them. 

“We want to be able to make as many boards as possible to have the highest impact and divert as much of that hospital waste as we can,” said Guerrero. 

When preorders begin, anticipated for later this summer, the company expects to sell its basic board for about $1,000 and a longboard for around $2,000.