Turning Beach Trash into Fins — a practical update on Ryan Harris’ plastic-to-gear project

A small-but-growing movement in surf circles is turning beach-collected plastic into surfboard fins. The idea isn’t new — groups like Precious Plastic have been open-sourcing the techniques and machines for years — but a wave of surfers and makers now want to close the loop between cleanup and gear. One of the people pushing that idea publicly is Ryan Harris; his Instagram is among the places sharing process footage and project updates.

Why this matters to surfers

• Plastic in the lineup is a problem beyond aesthetics: microplastics and debris harm marine life and the spots we love. See Ocean Conservancy for recent data on plastics in the ocean.
• Turning collected plastic into durable gear gives cleanups an immediate, tangible payoff: a fin forged from the same rubbish pulled off the sand.

How it works (the practical, proven bits)

The workflow being used by projects like this follows established, documented steps used by Precious Plastic and similar initiatives:

• 1. Collection: coordinated beach cleanups or community drives bring in mixed plastics.
• 2. Sorting & washing: plastics are separated by resin type and cleaned.
• 3. Shredding/grinding: a shredder reduces pieces to flakes for consistent melting.
• 4. Melting & forming: the plastic is melted and either compression- or injection-molded into fin blanks, then trimmed and finished.

Precious Plastic (the organisation) provides open-source machine designs and guides for shredders and small-scale injectors — see preciousplastic.com and their YouTube demonstrations for the techniques.

Real-world precedents

Commercial projects have already proven the basic concept: Bureo (recycled fishing nets into skateboard decks and other goods) and many other brands have incorporated ocean plastic into accessories.

What remains to be proven (and what to watch for)

– Performance parity: recycled fins need testing in the water against conventional blanks. Expect surfers and shapers to focus on flex, hold and longevity before widespread adoption.
– Material consistency: mixed beach plastic varies — reliable resin sourcing and sorting are crucial to make reproducible fins.
– Metrics & footprint: precise figures (for example, kilograms of plastic per fin or a product-level carbon comparison) are not yet published by this project and should be requested from the team.
– Funding & timeline: a crowdfunding push is mentioned in community posts, but any specific launch date or campaign goal should be confirmed on the official campaign page before publishing as fact.

How you can we help right now

• Join a cleanup locally and ask organisers how collected plastics will be handled.
• Follow Precious Plastic to understand small-scale recycling workflows and to see machine demo.
• Track the project lead’s updates for launch/crowdfunding announcements and test results.

Insider tips for surfers curious about recycled fins

– Ask for material specs and test data (flex/durometer, expected lifespan).
– Look for transparency: brands that publish kg-of-plastic-per-product and an LCA (life-cycle analysis) are more credible.
– If you’re a shaper or tech-minded surfer, study the Precious Plastic injection/compression guides before promising scale.

Ryan Harris’s Crowfunding campaing : https://www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/ryanharris-31111211/the-reup-fin-surfboard-fins-made-from-trash