How Bureo is Saving the Planet One Skateboard at a Time.

Ben Kneppers grew up in Cape Cod swimming in the ocean every day, learning at a young age the profound specialness of the sea. About 5 years ago, he was sent to Chile for work and stumbled upon an opportunity to start an environmentally-focused startup and it just felt right. “For as much doom and gloom as we cast on ocean pollution, I figured it was probably actually solvable,” Kneppers told Nationswell. “Waste is a design flaw (…) If we designed something using a circular model, we could solve the problem that we created.” After roping in his two friends, David Stover and Kevin Ahearn, the three launched Bureo in 2014, a company set on tackling the problem of ocean plastic. One initiative they started was ‘Net Positiva’ – a program focused on recycling old fishing nets, a product that is often improperly disposed of. In fact, fishing nets make up 10% of the ocean’s pollution.  

Push More = Pollute Less. Simple math.✌🏽#netstodecks 📷 @marksleeper

A post shared by B U R E O (@bureo) on Jan 8, 2018 at 9:07am PST

  Instead of discarding them in the water, fishermen get paid for turning in their old nets. If a fisherman donates their nets, the money they would have been paid goes toward local projects tackling waste management systems. The first product they made from the nets was a cruiser-style skateboard. Now, they also make Jenga games, surfboard fins, and more. Peep their swag here. In 2017, Bureo saved 186,000 pounds of nets from getting dumped in the ocean. The Chilean program is so successful it’s now looking to expand to the Pacific Coast and beyond. What started as a hair-brained idea has proven that going green doesn’t mean completely refusing consumption altogether. Sometimes, they can go hand-in-hand.  

Feature photo: Bureo Kickstarter