Snow of tomorrow | Are you already recycling your ski boots?

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. The circle consisting of the three green arrows. Recycled polyester. Recycled wool. Recycled fishing nets. Recycling is a trend. No question about it. It's not only trendy to recycle PET bottles and put cans in the deposit machine, it's also trendy to buy new clothing or equipment made from recycled materials. It is also clear that this is not the last word in wisdom and will not solve our planet's waste problem. That's why PowderGuide.com author Lorenzo wrote an article about the next big thing, the circular economy and what it has to do with winter sports last season.

So now another article about recycling, even though we already know that's not enough? That we won't get anywhere this way? Yes and no. Because I don't want to tell you again today why recycling can end in downcycling. Today will be more practical. At the beginning of the year, I want to introduce you to manufacturers who have dedicated themselves to the topic of recycling and the circular economy with initiatives and collections.

New collection from waste materials

The most widespread form of recycling in the outdoor industry is probably the upcycling of waste materials. This is because waste materials are one of the biggest problems in the textile industry. In Germany alone, around 392,000 tons of clothing end up in the bin every year and less than one percent of textiles are turned into new clothing, according to estimates by the UN Fashion Alliance. In the clothing sector, Ortovox presented the Protact collection this summer, a collection made entirely from residual materials. This series is named after the company's own sustainability strategy and comprises 22 styles, which are sold in limited quantities by selected retailers. Although Ortovox tries to avoid production leftovers right from the start, manufacturers can never completely avoid such leftovers: "We have to order textile quantities at a very early stage in the collection planning process, which then sometimes deviate from the final sales calculation," explains Katrin Bauer, Head of CSR.

Maloja has also pursued a similar concept with The Leftover Puzzle Collection, puzzling together a collection from leftover fabrics from previous Maloja collections - and creating completely new designs from them, which are sold by selected Maloja retailers.

But it's not just clothing manufacturers who are tailoring new styles from leftover fabrics; backpack and bag manufacturers are also using old fabrics for new products. Several years ago, Deuter started using leftover fabrics to reinforce its own products or to make giveaways. At some point, however, this was no longer enough for the Deuter product managers and the idea for the Infinit series was born. A small collection of individual, unique items. Deuter has processed 26,200 yards (that's just under 24,000 meters) of leftover fabric for this purpose. That's about five soccer pitches of fabric that would otherwise have to be disposed of. The company donates ten percent of the collection's sales to 1% for the planet.

Can materials for new ski boots also be obtained from old ski boots?

Downhill performance and durability are two main characteristics that determine the quality of an alpine ski boot. They are closely related to the mechanical performance of the plastics used for the shell. The challenge is to have a consistent, regenerated plastic that can guarantee the desired performance. To do this, we need to know which plastic has been processed. So far, we only know which material was used in which hardness for our own ski boots. As we recycle old ski boots from all brands and from all seasons, the mechanical properties of the regenerated TPU allow us to use it only for some parts that are not related to the overall performance of the ski boot. However, we are working on being able to determine the hardness of the material independently in the future to make a ski boot into a ski boot again.

If ski boots are to be thought of and designed in a circular economy way in the future, will the materials from which the boots are made also have to change?

One of the first insights and consequences of the RYB project is the question of how we should design our ski boots so that they can be dismantled and recycled more easily. We will reduce the complexity of the different materials, particularly in the inner boots, in order to simplify the recycling process and make it even more efficient.

We will also label every single component of our ski boots with the exact material specification. This will allow us to obtain more homogeneous second-generation raw materials in terms of quality and performance (when the ski boots are recycled again). Better second-generation materials with excellent mechanical and known properties will allow wider and longer reuse in the production of new ski boots without compromising the desired performance and durability.

We are also starting to test bio-based plastics, but to date we do not see any material other than plastic that can meet the requirements for a good ski boot. That's why we have focused on finding new and better solutions for recycling and reusing plastics to make new products.

If you want to apply this to the entire ski industry, all ski boot manufacturers would then have to work together to ensure that uniform materials are used, which are then easier to return to the cycle afterwards?

That is our goal and our hope. We are aware that we can only make a big impact if we all work together. RYB is our call, not only to other ski boot manufacturers, but also to other brands, retailers and ultimately to the mountain community and skiers to join our project, scale it up or simply turn it into something else.

RYB is part of the European Commission's LIFE program. Its aim is precisely to support innovative circular economy and waste management projects that can serve as a learning basis for similar projects in other sectors or products. I expect that we will develop new meaningful partnerships in the future.

Are there plans for a similar project with Ski in the future? Or is there an exchange between Blizzard and Tecnica here?

Skis differ from ski boots, for example, in the material from which they are made. The challenges that need to be overcome to make skis more sustainable are also different. The biggest challenge is probably dismantling or separating the different layers of material before they are recycled and reused, as they are glued together. As mentioned, there is already an exchange between Tecnica and Blizzard as part of the RYB project, where recycled TPU is used to reinforce the boards or protect the tip and tail.

Air up

As you can see, when it comes to recycling, the last fiber is far from being downcycled. There are always new projects and efforts by manufacturers to optimize their processes and come up with new solutions to global problems. We all know that this alone is not enough. Nevertheless, it is a first step.