( CNN ) -- An environmentally-friendly surfboard has taken to the waves after five years in development . Surf 's up : Mark Harris tries out the Eden eco-surfboard . British profession surfer Mark `` Egor '' Harris was one of the first to try the British-made board at Fistral beach in Cornwall , England , giving its performance and eco-credentials the thumbs up . `` It felt good and I can see these boards being popular with surfers . We spend a lot of time on the beach and in the sea and surfers have been campaigning to clean up the oceans for years . This board goes hand-in-hand with that philosophy , '' said Harris . The surfboard has been in development in the south west of England for five years and is the culmination of a collaboration between the Eden Project gardens and biosphere and three local companies . Chris Hines , former sustainability director of the Eden Project and a lifelong surfer and committed environmentalist came up with the idea for the board when a balsa tree had to be taken down in the rainforest biome . `` I said , well , let 's make a completely sustainable surfboard , because I knew people who could laminate in hemp cloth and plant-based resin , so we went for it . It was a eureka moment : we thought , let 's really have a go , let 's really see what we can do , '' he told CNN . Hines and the Eden Project team soon realized that balsa and hemp cloth were too heavy for commercially viable surfboards , but desire remained to produce a surfboard that reduces the reliance on petroleum chemicals and uses more sustainable materials . The Eden team worked with local company Homeblown to create a new type of foam core for the eco-board , 15 to 20 percent of which is made from plant derived material . Another local Cornish company , Sustainable Composites , developed a resin made almost entirely from linseed oil instead of oil-derived coatings , meaning over 50 percent of the final finished surfboards are made from renewable materials . Completing the use of local companies , the boards are being manufactured by surfboard shapers , Laminations . Junior British surfing champion Tassy Swallow is set to compete at the International Surfing Association World Junior Championships in Ecuador on a new Eden surfboard . `` It 's a really good board , it worked really well , '' said Swallow after her first outing on the board . `` It feels a lot more buoyant in the nose which makes it easier to catch waves . It will really catch on when people realize that it 's as good as a regular board . ''
New eco-surfboard made with over 50 percent renewable materials . The new design is a hybrid of the traditional and sustainable surfboards that are currently being used by surfers around the world. Manufacturers hope it will appeal to surfers who are traditionally eco-conscious .