Taking steps

TO BE MORE RESPONSIBLE

Here at Red Paddle Co we love the great outdoors and as passionate water users it is incredibly important for us to look after the surroundings we enjoy and have as little impact as we can.

From the very beginning, our company ethos has been to ‘never compromise’ when it comes to the performance of our inflatable paddle boards.

As time has moved on, that message and determination has expanded into other vital areas of our company, such as the safety of our paddlers, the reliability of our products and a duty to protect the future of our planet.

And we’ve already taken some big steps in the right direction…

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“The values at the very heart of our company cultivate and drive everything we do; from the circular design of our products to the individual people that form our global community.”

Phil Hawthorne,
Head of Design

RESPONSIBLE & CIRCULAR DESIGN.

Our design ethos is to deliver creative and responsible design which embodies Circular Economy processes.

A Circular Economy concept is designing with the goal to move away from cradle to grave products to ensure the materials used can be recovered and re-used, so we are not actually adding to landfill.

The Biosphere:

This is anything that grows and is made with natural elements that at its ‘end of life’ it just dies and you can easily put it back in the ground and it will decompose naturally.

The TechnoSphere:

This is usually man-made, such as metals, plastics, glass. The difference here is at its ‘end of life’ you can recover the material by melting it down, re-grinding it, re-using it, re-purposing it.

When you merge the two, that is when you make waste.

At a strategic level our design team aim to keep the two ‘Spheres’ separate within Red Paddle Co products, so that at their ‘end of life’ they are more easily recoverable.

We apply this thinking to a number of our products such as the Titan pump, fins and recyclable packaging.

PURE MATERIAL

Using pure materials where we can to allow for ongoing maintenance and improved recyclability.

TITAN PUMP

All of the components on the Titan Pump are replaceable so users can easily maintain it to extend its use and reduce waste at the same time.

ZERO WASTE

Our board production facility is now 100% waste free with materials being reused or recycled and our paper and card packaging is 100% recyclable.

PACKAGING AND PRODUCTION.

Our in-house team of designers are constantly evolving how we approach production and design to reduce waste, adhesives and dyes.

One of our first projects was to remove glue from our packaging and utilise mechanical fastenings. As a second iteration, we want to try and make our packaging completely compostable by looking into grown packaging, soy-based inks and corn starch PE replacements. This year we are aiming to replace the plastic packaging of our paddles and leashes for sustainable alternatives.

While we are not quite there yet, the changes that we have made have pushed us ever closer to our goal of 100% compostable packaging.

Our board production facility is now 100% waste free, our paper and card packaging is 100% recyclable and we have also educated our suppliers about circular economy and are making a genuine difference with the products we bring to the market

What happen’s next…

The area we always emphasise in our design process is “what happens next?”
When making our products in pure material we are able to guarantee that at the end of their current state they can be more easily recovered in the future ready for their next application.

This allows us to be really accurate when it comes to material selection. If the material we want doesn’t quite fit, we can modify the form to compensate so we can use it.

When it is not possible to use pure materials, we have to use composites.
All our boards are made primarily from composite materials, however in order to be more responsible we make these boards last as long as possible. And our boards are designed to last.

BUILT TO LAST.

Every board we make is produced in our private facility using a unique manufacturing process and it takes an average of 72 hours to create each paddle board. Using our MSL™ pressure lamination Red Paddle Co boards offer the very best in reliability and durability resulting in warranty rates of just 0.5% globally – that’s equivalent to the aerospace industry* – which means our boards are out there being put to the test and are lasting a long time!

Want to learn more …

Where it all started: The leading authority in driving the conversion to a circular economy

Circulate magazine: How Red Paddle Co are getting to grips with circular design

*Warranty Claim Rates by Industry