All images: courtesy of Tecnica

This is an old puzzle: my ski boots are thrown in the trash can, but I don't want to throw them in the trash can. Other than turning them into flower pots or hiding them in sheds to collect dust for ten years, there is no good or environmentally friendly way to recycle your old ski boots because they are made of too many different materials. That is, until Tecnica announces its new Recycle Your Boots (RYB) plan. 

Tecnica aims to solve the problem of plastic waste in the ski industry through the Recycle Your Boots program, removing ski boots from landfills and recycling them into new secondary materials for reuse in the production of new boots and other products . After three years of research and development, the program has been officially launched in eight countries including Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Spain, with a total of 248 dealers participating. 

In order to collect old ski boots of any brand, Tecnica equips each distributor with a donation box of the RYB brand. When skiers buy new boots at the nearest dealer, they can donate the old boots to the RYB program by simply putting the old boots in the box. Once the dealer has at least 25 pairs of old boots in the box, it will be collected and shipped to Tecnica's designated recycling facility in Italy. Always putting environmental sustainability and transparency first throughout the process, Tecnica worked with FERCAM and Carbonsink to offset the transportation emissions associated with the program. 

After the boots are discarded in a recycling facility, they are disassembled, sorted according to the original material (plastic, aluminum or steel), then decomposed and remade into secondary materials. Tecnica's other partner in the project, LaPrima Plastics, was able to regenerate two types of secondary plastics-thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polypropylene (PP) from the shell of old ski boots. These secondary plastics are used in the development of ski boot components, such as wedges, pad components, and cuff reinforcements. Recycled aluminum and steel are used to make new boot buckles, and Tecnica also collaborated with Liski to recycle the foam in the old pads to create a protective foam barrier for local ski resorts.

In the first year, the program will continue to stay in Europe, with the goal of collecting 7,000 pairs of old boots. By the fourth year, Tecnica hopes to collect 30,000 boots. If the program is successful, it will be rolled out to other markets, including North America. At the same time, keep those dusty old shoes until we can give them to Tecnica for recycling and make beautiful new boots. 

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