After revealing its plans for an end-of-life solution for used ski boots in the spring of this year, the Tecnica brand is about to start its new “Recycle your boots” program. The circular project, being launched in the Alps region this autumn, aims to contribute to protecting the planet by recycling used ski boots into secondary raw materials, saving resources and reducing CO² emissions.
To collect, transport and recycle old plastic ski boots into reusable secondary raw materials, Tecnica has set up a return system that combines manufacturing expertise with support from academic research institutes to predict, monitor and measure the effectiveness of the project. As announced before, the University of Padua is one of the scientific partners for Tecnica.
Every customer buying a new pair of Tecnica boots at a participating retailer is offered the opportunity to return their old boots (from any brand) to the shop. The boots collected at brick-and-mortar stores will then be transported by Tecnica’s logistics partner Fercam, with all CO² emissions being compensated. After separating the boot’s components at another facility in Italy, the parts will be taken to a nearby factory and transformed into secondary raw materials.
The recycling project is financially supported by the European Union.s part of its Life Program, the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action.
The most critical element will be mobilizing the skiing community, its retailers and consumers. For the coming season, 150 European retailers are taking part in the project, Tecnica says. The implementation of a similar initiative is currently also planned for North America.
According to the company, Recycle Your Boots will also influence how the Tecnica Group designs its ski boots in the future, implementing the use of secondary raw materials from the recycling process in the production new products and ski components, while new ski boots will be designed to facilitate the recycling process. The group, whose brands include Nordica, Blizzard and Rollerblade, among others, also aims to open the project to other products and brands, even outside the ski sector.
The Italian group is not alone in its mission. The Rossignol Group already announced its own ski recycling program early last year. In September of this year, Dalbello said it was partnering with the Life Reskiboot project to optimize production processes and the development of recycled ski boots, so far limited to rental boots.
