Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: The new motto out in the surf! Renata Marcadella talks to Gringo Media about her involvement in the new ‘Eco Board Project’

The dreams became to reality 

1.  1.  Where did the idea come from for Projeto Prancha
3. Ecológica ( Eco board Project) and how did you and your
5. partner Niel Terme become involved?

Answer: The plastic  surfboard was created by Jairo

Lumertz when he was living in Hawai. However the idea of

Eco Surfboard Project (Projeto prancha Ecológica in

Portugese) started when Jairo Lumertz met Carolina

Scorsin three years ago in a village

called Garopaba, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Jairo joined two

passions together, the surf and nature, and ended up

building surfboards made from recyclable materials. In 2011, back in Brazil, he met Carolina and together they

developed the project with the purpose to teach kids how to make recyclable surf boards.

Niel and I are Physical Education teachers in Public Schools in Garopaba and we love surfing and nature as well.

We were surfing one day when we met Jairo and Carol with a recycled surf board at Ferrugem Beach (one of the most beautiful

beaches in Garopaba).

It was the first time that I saw this special surf board and I asked them if I could join in with the project with my students at Agostinho

Botelho School. Jairo and Carol visited the school and gave workshops teaching us and our students how to make recycled surf boards,

whilst also educating the students on the importance of the environment. It was an amazing workshop and Niel and I found an

opportunity to work with surf and the environment. So we started to build the boards and do classes at the public schools. Our main

objective is to use these surf boards as a tool to develop awareness about sustainability and to provide a fun sport for all.

2. Have you and Niel always had a passion for the environment? If

so, when and why did this passion begin?

As a surfer we need to take care of the environment. We feel like we are the

guardians of nature. For surfing we need to connect with the environment, if

not, you are not a soul surfer; you are not a real surfer. I remember when I

was younger, my mother taught me to separate the organic rubbish and the

recyclable rubbish, but it was something new in Brazil and just a few cities

used to do it. I always enjoyed the beach and nature, so this project united

all the things that we love together; sport, education and environment.

3. How long have you been building environmental surfboards for now?

We have been building environment surfboards for 3 years

4. When did you and Niel learn to surf, and how long have you two

been surfing for?

Niel learnt surfing with his older brothers when he was 10 years old. I

started to learn it with him when we started our relationship. He is a great

surf instructor. So, in total Niel has been surfing for 18 years and I have

been surfing for 4 years.

 5. I understand you are from Brazilian background, what was it like coming over to Australia? Do you enjoy the surf

here and the culture?

We always dreamed about visiting and maybe living in Australia, but it was a far-fetched dream to us. Now, Eco Board Project helps us

to live this dream. We love this place, we love to learn and we love to teach.

We’re living in amazing place, we have the chance to learn English also a lot of others things and a new culture; teaching how to build a

recycle surf board and to show people how important it is to take care of our planet.

6. What advice do you have for anyone who

would like to get involved with surfing

and building their own recycled

surfboard?

Our goal with this project is to show that

recycling can be really fun and it helps our

planet a lot. We    make recycle surfboards in

big groups, at schools and universities,

because our goal is talk about the

environment primarily. So, the advice is: Get

your friends together and start collecting the

bottles and when you have enough you can

start to make one and teach the kids how

important the 3R’s is… REDUCE – REUSE –

RECYCLE.

 You can contact Renata for a workshop on either her phone number: 0432807766 or her email: remarcadella@hotmail.com

By Kelly Boag