Neoprene, it's everywhere. As I write I have a neoprene mouse mat, a cable bag and my wellies (not actually wearing them right now but they're in the room!) as well as a store full of wetsuits, dry suits, boots, gloves and hoods.
But in an environmentally responsible era should we still be using neoprene? In short yes, but let's look at why we use neoprene and how it can be re-cycled (if you want the in-depth slightly technical story click here).
It was created a hundred years ago by DuPont back in the 1920s in response to what we would now call freedivers and wild swimmers and price increases in the rubber market.Neoprene's real name is polychloroprene rubber and Neoprene is DuPont's trade name.
But why do we use it for diving?
Well it's warm, water-proof, insulating, is highly resistant to temperature, water and chemicals and can be made into clothing that is comfortable versatile and hardwearing. In fact it is so hardwearing it's used in dozens of other things such as:
- Wire and cable insulation
- Belts
- Springs
- Flexible mounts
- Gaskets
- Adhesives
For us as divers, swimmers, paddleboarders or surfers the thicker the neoprene the warmer you will stay. For those of diving we also need to think about the effect of depth on the neoprene. It will compress at depth although modern neoprene is designed to still give maximum insolation and warmth at maximum compression. ut it'd not just thickness it is also the quality of the neoprene.
Buying tip: It is the thickness of the neoprene that is your insulator. The softer the neoprene, the thinner it will become at depth. A really soft 5mm suit will be half its thickness at just 2 metres (6feet). At 30 metres it'll be paper thin. So if you struggle to get into your wetsuit because it feels too stiff or heavy, then it will do a good job or keeping you warm.
This is all great stuff but greatness often has a downside; the manufacturing process was (and to an extent still is) toxic and the material at one time did not biodegrade and needed large amounts of heat and pressure to be broken down and destroyed by incineration, releasing large amounts of pollution into the atmosphere. Although these days the use of limestone in the manufacturing process has reduced the environmental impact hugely.
This is long life span is good news when you've spent a lot of money on a neoprene suit, but it's terrible for the planet.
BUT – and here comes the good news, in 2022 a recycling system was devised and implemented by Circular Flow. They have come up with a solution allowing neoprene to be recycled in a clean, non toxic way, and used again and again – read more about their process here.
Broadly speaking old suits are collected from various, collection points across the UK (and we at Teign Diving are one of them). Suits are then processed into sheets of neoprene for use in a broad range of products.These products in can in turn be recycled when their time comes.Genius!
So if you have old suits you want to get rid of please don't put them in for landfill. Bbring them to us and we will get them recycled.