Skateboards as a Sustainable Recyclable Material

Willard, Dylan T.; Loferski, Joseph R.

Skateboards as a Sustainable Recyclable Material

dc.contributor.author	Willard, Dylan T.	en
dc.contributor.author	Loferski, Joseph R.	en
dc.contributor.department	Sustainable Biomaterials	en
dc.date.accessioned	2018-06-25T12:22:44Z	en
dc.date.available	2018-06-25T12:22:44Z	en
dc.date.issued	2018-05-15	en
dc.date.updated	2018-06-25T07:44:26Z	en
dc.description.abstract	The exact number of skateboards manufactured every year is unknown, but it is estimated to be in the millions. Most skateboard decks are made from a high grade of maple (Acer spp.) veneer plywood and typically last only a few months before they break or deteriorate beyond use. Millions of used skateboard decks are discarded annually, ending up in landfills when, instead, they could be recycled into new products. But beyond artistic or aesthetic purposes, material properties of the used skateboard decks are unknown. The objective of this paper is to investigate the material properties of wooden composite panels created by reengineering the skateboard deck material. These aesthetically pleasing wooden panels may be a sustainable recycled product. This paper presents a method of analyzing material properties and structural aspects of used skateboard deck material. Tests were developed to measure the stiffness and strength in bending, moisture content, specific gravity, moisture durability, and species identification. The results show that this process of reengineering skateboard decks makes for a strong wood product and may be useful to those interested in developing new products from recycled materials.	en
dc.description.version	Published version	en
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en
dc.identifier.citation	Willard, D.T.; Loferski, J.R. Skateboards as a Sustainable Recyclable Material. Recycling 2018, 3, 20.	en
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling3020020	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10919/83721	en
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.publisher	MDPI	en
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International	en
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	en
dc.subject	skateboard	en
dc.subject	Sustainability	en
dc.subject	recycling	en
dc.subject	plywood	en
dc.subject	veneer	en
dc.subject	composite	en
dc.subject	wood composite	en
dc.subject	sugar maple	en
dc.subject	stiffness	en
dc.subject	strength	en
dc.subject	moisture content	en
dc.subject	specific gravity	en
dc.subject	delamination	en
dc.subject	moisture durability	en
dc.subject	species identification	en
dc.title	Skateboards as a Sustainable Recyclable Material	en
dc.title.serial	Recycling	en
dc.type	Article - Refereed	en
dc.type.dcmitype	Text	en