Interview to Albert Buscató, director manager of Albus Golf

Albus Golf is a skilled company in designing innovative and only products of ecological and biodegradable character that improve the sustainability. To satisfy the sportive needs and of leisure of his customers, increasing his environingingmental consciousness, has launched to the market the Ecobioball, the last novelty in balls of golf to practise this sport in the most unusual places, of an alone use and with food for fishes.

Arises from a process of research and development started after the idea of wanting to make a biodegradable ball with added value: inside take food for fish. Thus not only not contaminated the environment that provide something positive, enhancing biodiversity and sustainability.

Since the product is a ball for a single use, which aims to plunge into the water only once, we have different types of potential clients, as they are the owners of large yachts, cruises, hotels and resorts luxury in first line of sea, oil platforms, the Merchant Navy and military Navy, companies that organise events on beachesSea and in ports sports and individuals who live the sea. However, all have in common that they are in a marine environment and can not play golf in a real way, as they would if they were on a golf course.

The outer part of the Ecobioball, with which we carry out a greater investment in time and money, it is made of polymers and non-polluting additives, which make the cover of the ball is biodegradable and, at the same time, can withstand the impact of the golf club, which is violent and much speed can represent forces of more than 1,000 pounds. Depending on the type of friction, which can be found the ball (seafloor with sand, stones and currents), the biodegradation process can be higher or lower, between 36 to 72 hours, approximately. In any case, we have detected that 24 hours be sumergida, the ball begins to open and the fish start to smell the food inside and just completely open the cover of the Ecobioball. Once opened, it biodegrades easier as there is increased contact with the water.

The Ecobioball is a product exclusively designed, patented and manufactured by Albus Golf, in Barcelona. For a clear and simple reason: because I wanted to follow the entire process and control it, to coordinate the different participants in the production, performed by different machines and raw materials. Make the product here, has long provided me things, but it is also true that if the entire process would have carried him away in a foreign country, such as China, may that it would have been cheaper but had lost control, the developments and changes in the development of the product, in this way has done everything according to my instructions. As it concerned the place of production, we do not have an own plant, that we externalizamos the entire process. We have just developed a product, a knowledge, a new 'how'. From here, we are concerned to have correct distributors that will help us produce the Ecobioball.

First of all, I must make it clear that this product is not approved for play on the traditional golf courses and is designed for a single use only. Ecobioball, obviously not has the same behavior than an approved ball, as it is not composed of the same materials. Its core is full of food for fish, unlike the core of conventional balls, which contain pollutants and heavy metals, which provide more inertia to the ball and get longer and longer distances. Therefore, only in the distance achieved with long sticks is where there is the difference between Ecobioball and a normal ball. With short clubs, the distance is equal or almost equal, depends on the stick and the player.

Albus Golf began with Ecobioball as a flagship product, but now we also distribute Dixon brand products, including its ecological balls, which are Yes certified for use on golf courses; caps and bags of sticks made of RPET (100% recycled plastic bottles) and poles of clothing made from bamboo. In addition, we also sell biodegradable tees.

We have all kinds of clients. There are those who have been in the Ecobioball a tool to try to have a greater employment in the hotel, simply, to offer this activity to a new segment of customers and others who were interested in a product that does not pollute and which also feed the fish. The latter have given to the activity of this sport a more ecological value, unlike the first, giving him a more commercial value, in some cases to carry out special and unique events.

From the first day we began to sell out, because we realized that the Hispanic market was not ours. We are currently present in over fifteen countries, in some cases with direct clients and others, with distributors. The Ecobioball has had and has a very warm welcome in the countries of Northern Europe, who have a more powerful than our environmental awareness. In Central America it is also having much success. Apart from all this, we also have customers some hotels and 'resorts' luxury in places such as Maldives, Seycheles, and the Philippines. To a new activity offer eco-friendly is an added value for this type of establishment.

Recently that we have become responsible for the distribution of the Dixon product and the market situation is now a little complicated, since the boom of golf came associated with the housing boom, now as in crisis. On the other hand, until that the Ecobioball her do not have well implanted in different countries, will not begin to invest and spend time on other projects we have in the head. We want to strengthen this new golf ball in Europe and the United States through a good network of distributors that very well move us the product. Establish this good network is a complex issue, as the perfect dealer of Ecobioball does not resemble the typical distributor of products for golf courses, more focused Golf played on the golf courses. Our distributor has to be a company which has contacts with hotels, cruises, events, merchant marine, among others. The end customer of Ecobioball has nothing to do with the client of the shops of golf products, our customer is an aficionado of the sport who is away from the camps, either on a cruise ship or on a tiny island, and want you to practice.

'Golf comes to the streets'

From the past on June 15, the Royal Spanish Golf Federation has made the campaign 'golf comes to the street' by different Spanish cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Alicante, Gijón, Murcia and Zaragoza, Guadalajara, aiming to bring practice of this sport to everyone. Facilities enabled in each city, all attendees who wanted to start in this sport, could do you for free with a one-hour session. Albus Golf Ecobioball was present at the conferences held in the Asturian town of Gijón.