nutterwatts
01-06-2006, 05:04 PM
Here's one for discussion,
I was at a well known whitewater kayak manufacturer last week, they crush old plastic boats and grind them up then turn them into things like new seats/footrests and fittings, which got me thinking how bad our sport is for the environment once we have finished with our boats.
Basically you cannot recycle an old carbon fibre boat once it has reached the end of it's life, it has to either be burnt or turned into land fill.
If however ( here comes the controversial bit!) we outlawed carbon fibre and all used plastic we could be a forward thinking and environmentally friendly sport :)
I know there is a weight issue but if everyone was using plastic then surely that argument falls down. If the carbon fibre boats were not allowed then the playing field would still be level.
I also think plastic boats would last longer and need replacing less, as they can better absorb the impacts that occur in our sport.
Over to you . . . .
I was at a well known whitewater kayak manufacturer last week, they crush old plastic boats and grind them up then turn them into things like new seats/footrests and fittings, which got me thinking how bad our sport is for the environment once we have finished with our boats.
Basically you cannot recycle an old carbon fibre boat once it has reached the end of it's life, it has to either be burnt or turned into land fill.
If however ( here comes the controversial bit!) we outlawed carbon fibre and all used plastic we could be a forward thinking and environmentally friendly sport :)
I know there is a weight issue but if everyone was using plastic then surely that argument falls down. If the carbon fibre boats were not allowed then the playing field would still be level.
I also think plastic boats would last longer and need replacing less, as they can better absorb the impacts that occur in our sport.
Over to you . . . .