Develop recyclable wetsuits

Two surfers in wetsuits

In 2017, UK surf brand Finisterre partnered with the University of Exeter's centre of material re-engineering to explore the possibility of turning old wetsuits into new ones!

In the UK alone, around 380 tonnes of old wetsuits end up in landfill every year.

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Benefits

  • No compromise on effectiveness
  • Pioneering design-process approach of creating wetsuits that can be recycled and repurposed
  • Future plans for buy-back scheme for chemical recycling of traditional suits

Challenges

  • Traditional wetsuits are very difficult to recycle due to their composition
  • Relies on consumer returning the product (behaviour change)
  • Still in development

Making a difference

Finisterre is teaming up with pioneers in the recycling industry to further explore the chemical recycling of suits in their current form, and launching a wetsuit 'buy back scheme' where old suits can be traded in.

There are hundreds of other ways to solve plastic pollution

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Photo Credit: Finisterre