Skateboards Made From Garbage: The Bucket Board
Brooklyn artist Mac Premo teams up with Sanford Shapes to turn trash into treasure
Despite a shift toward more environmentally conscious consumption habits, trash remains a pressing global pollution problem that threatens the habitats of humans and wildlife alike. To raise awareness for the World Wildlife Fund‘s upcoming Earth Hour (28 March 2015 at 8:30PM local time), the organization tapped Brooklyn artist Mac Premo to put his “stuff-making” skills to the test. The CH regular was tasked with taking something that’s already out the world and giving it a new life. A love of skateboarding and digging through trash—along with a birthday present he bought for his daughter—led him to making skateboards out of the buckets found at construction sites. Partnering with Encinitas, California-based skateboard company Sanford Shapes, The Bucket Board was born.
Skateboarding is about falling and getting up.
Premo counts the importance of this work as two-fold; first there’s the environmental benefit. “We are throwing too much stuff out, missing too many opportunities to reuse stuff,” Premo tells CH. “Reuse is a double effect, as it simultaneously stalls waste and mitigates further production.” Second, the artist believes in the power of skateboarding. “Regarding the importance of skating, that one may be more subjective, but personally it is equally axiomatic,” Premo adds. “For me, skating changed the way I saw the world, from a perspective on meaning beyond the semantic to personal growth, confidence, failure, camaraderie. Skateboarding is about falling and getting up.”
Since there are no material costs with producing The Bucket Board decks, Premo and Sanford believe they can get skateboards to kids who wouldn’t otherwise have access to them. While there are still research and development issues to work out, the boards are presently 100% functional for cruising and casual street skating. While we don’t expect them to surpass wooden decks, getting more kids skateboarding is surely a positive thing. “I saw a picture of a teenager in Syria on the cover of the Times yesterday, and he has this happy goofy 15-year-old smile. In his hands is a gun. Fuck that,” Premo says. “I sincerely believe that if there was a skateboard in his hands he would have that same goofy smile, but for a whole different set of reasons.”
Expect The Bucket Board to go on sale and enter larger distribution in the coming months and remember to switch off your lights for Earth Hour on 28 March at 8:30PM. It might also be a good time for a skate around the block.
Images courtesy of Mac Premo and Do the Green Thing
