A sustainable solution to Hawaii’s housing crisis may have been found using material from the industry that helped put the islands on the map: surfing. A local company has developed a process to convert the polystyrene foam used in surfboards into building materials for affordable, disaster-resistant homes.
The idea for the process came to David Sellers, an amateur surfer and professional architect, almost a decade ago when he noticed discarded polystyrene foam in a dumpster near his office in Haʻikū, Maui. Curious about how many homes could be built from this waste, Sellers adapted existing ICCF technology to create ‘Surf Blocks’, lightweight insulating concrete forms made from 85% recycled expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam.
Sellers’ firm, Hawai’i Off-Grid Architecture & Engineering, began manufacturing Surf Blocks two and a half years ago. ‘We’re on an island with limited space, limited resources, and landfills that are filling up fast,’ said Sellers.
With the support of a Green Grant from Maui County, the initiative aims to recycle large quantities of EPS foam from landfills, reduce reliance on imported materials and promote local businesses.
‘Surfing was born in Hawaii, and shaping boards is still a part of daily life here’, Sellers stated. ‘Creating building materials from local waste is environmentally responsible and essential. It allows us to reduce imports, cut emissions, and build in a way that’s truly place-based.’
Surf Blocks are designed to be stacked like Lego bricks to create walls, which are then reinforced with steel rebar and filled with concrete. The blocks remain in place, resulting in a lightweight yet strong wall. They provide superior insulation and acoustic damping and are resistant to mould, pests, and mildew. Another advantage, which is perhaps the most significant in a region devastated by wildfires in 2023, is their high resistance to natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and fire.
According to Sellers, houses made of Surf Blocks require only about one third of the concrete needed for breeze block construction. As they are manufactured locally, they offer an affordable, low-emission alternative that supports community rebuilding and environmental goals.
‘Being able to take that leftover foam and turn it into something strong, lasting, and community-serving carries real meaning for us.’
This is a significant advantage, especially given that Hawaii has the highest construction costs in the United States. The blocks also provide a practical solution to the worsening affordability crisis, in which only one in five households could afford to purchase a single-family home in 2024, and in which the Lahaina fires left 2,200 homes in need of reconstruction.
The project has attracted attention for its environmental impact and potential scalability. The first home made entirely of Surf Blocks is now nearing completion, and there are plans to expand its use across the island.
The next step is to make surfboard manufacturing greener. Currently, boards are made from fibreglass and virgin polystyrene, resulting in a significant amount of waste. Francisco Goya, a former world windsurfing champion who has been shaping boards since the 1990s, acknowledges the difficulty.
‘It’s everywhere in our manufacturing, in our thoughts – how to reduce the waste and how to get a greener material,’ Goya said. ‘We’re doing our best, but we do have a challenge.’
Until greener boards become the norm, recycling surfboard waste to create resilient homes could be the best of both worlds, providing a climate-adaptive, place-based response to Hawaii’s twin crises of housing and sustainability – one wave at a time.
