To deal with the increasing soup of wildfire smoke in Northern California, and to hopefully protect our toddler girl’s developing lungs, my wife and I bought a bigger air purifier for our house. Because as the calendar flips toward fall, power outages loom as PG&E cuts the juice to lines that can spark fires during the real fire season which is, unbelievably, just now getting underway, we also bought a solar-powered battery/power station to run key appliances during potentially days-long outages.
All that is to say we found ourselves swimming in styrofoam packing materials. Big blocks of white foam. I gathered up a few armfuls and tossed the foam and a handful of old wetsuits I don’t wear anymore into the back of my car and headed to a local surf shop that recycles the styrofoam into new foam that can be used for new surfboards. They do the same with old wetsuits.
Except, oops, they no longer take styrofoam. The company that did the recycling for them ended the program. They do still take wetsuits though, thank goodness. This prompted a realization that I’ve owned something like 50 surfboards, I’d guess, over my lifetime, including my current 5-board quiver. I don’t know for certain, but I have to assume that 75% of those boards are now taking up space in a landfill somewhere.
I’ve never actually thrown one away, mind you. Ever. I sell them when I grow bored of them. Then, eventually, somebody somewhere throws that board in the garbage. When you sell stuff you no longer have need for, it doesn’t seem like you’re throwing it away, so it feels less wasteful, but, in all reality, unless that board finds its last home with someone particularly adept at surfboard recycling, those boards still end up in a landfill, even if I didn’t drive it there myself.
Then, a deeper realization: I’ve sold backpacks, tents, jackets, boots, headlamps—the full outdoor good spectrum—when I didn’t have a use for it anymore, and, in all likelihood, those things too are headed for a landfill.
Of course, somebody buying used means they aren’t buying new, and that’s a wonderful thing. Happy to help that cycle. But I only sell things that still have life left. Because I’m used to buying and selling clothes at second-hand stores, that’s, well, second nature to me. But I have a few jackets now that I never sold because I love them too much, but eventually, these jackets will be more duct tape than polyester and nylon, and then what?
Do you know how to recycle gear or apparel? Can you throw a down parka into the recycling bin? What about a tent? Are you sure?
We’re committed to educating ourselves here at Team AJ as much as possible about what the environmental impact of outdoor gear, clothes included, is, and how and what it means to recycle gear, to buy recycled gear, to buy used gear, to fix gear—all of it.
So, we’re wondering what you do with your old stuff when you’ve decided it’s reached the end of its usefulness for you.
And, by the way, here’s some info on what you can do with styrofoam if you like the idea of recycling it into new surfboard blanks.
Photo: Pixabay
Yeah, I’ve never had much luck selling my old gear. Especially if an interested party has any notion of the kind of places and conditions I like to sail in. So I still have all too much of it in my possession. One of my current projects I call “Windsurfing recycled”. I’ve tried to take just about everything in my pile and create repurposed, functional items. The broken mast, boom parts, ropes, battens, fins and harness lines have been incorporated into a series of windchimes. I’ve taken a sail I’d ripped in half and cut it into a shower curtain. So far I’ve made deck chairs from three of the boards. One of those features a neoprene cushion from a wetsuit. Just about every item I use in windsurfing is represented somehow and this program has gone far to make me feel a little better about all this consumption. _______|_
While the best an individual can do, is actually consume as little as possible – I have had the same two surfboards for over a decade – the reality is, companies need to be held accountable for their products, from design and production through to a products end of life. Companies then need to take responsibility for recycling, re-purposing and disposal of that product. Until this happens, a large portion of outdoor equipment, will end up in landfill.
We’re lucky here in Portland; we have a couple of shops that buy used gear or take it on consignment, and you can then spend it on store. Makes buyer’s remorse far more palatable, and also helps me maintain my “1 in/1 out” rule for most things.
I donate to a great company out of Taos NM. Rerouted Co-Op
The take donations and resell with a percentage going to dedicated environmental groups (including my favorite American Alpine Club). Chap Grub the founder is an outstanding guy and they have a great ethos Find their stuff at http://www.rerouredcoop.com
I also think an interview with Chap would be great in Adventure Journal
This sounds like a terrific service. Thanks so much for the suggestion.
Hey Justin!
This comment just got put on my desk. I’d love to connect if you’re interested. My company is named Rerouted. The site is http://www.rerouted.co!
We have updated somewhat since Topher posted.
Topher. – thanks for recommending us. It’s really appreciated.
1) I’ve been buying used gear a lot for the past 20 years. Tents (got a nice MSR tent recently that needs re-seam sealing, then should be good for many more years). So my initial impact is less.
2) I sell a lot of items on ebay or similar. If I’m not using it, then someone should, as it’s already created it’s carbon foot print, so may as well get as much use out of it as possible
3) I do wonder what to do with things like old cheap cycle cranks. They are 100% aluminum (once you take the rings off), and weigh as much as many drink cans that get recycled. I have put some stuff like that in the recycling bin, hopeful that the recycling center will just throw it in with the alloy cans. I wish there was an answer there.
4) Clothing, that becomes rags for the garage to maintain bicycles and cars.
5) I’ve definitely been known to claim a few warranties in my time (a number of brands cover items for life and without proof of purchase, so you can claim warranties for repair on quite a few things).
6) After watching a number of restoration videos on youtube for various random things, I have set out to try to restore back to working condition, a few things a year. Bicycle parts, couple of classic bbq’s, my MSR tent, some snow shoes I got with broken straps etc.
Last night I watched David Attenborough’s sobering new documentary, Extinction.
Whilst I was aware of many of the issues and causes, it pulled no punches, was visually stark and disturbing, and left me feeling really low, slightly angry, but also determined to do more to play my tiny part in improving things. One thing I realised that I can still do more of is to reduce consumerism. Cut down on my amount of ‘stuff’. And maybe stop buying and replacing without considering if I really need things as apposed to just want them. I used to joke that you could never have to many toys or shiny things, referring to my vast array of outdoor kit that has built up over many years. But is that really true? Now I’m not so sure.
I’m a hoarder. I haven’t parted with anything, even items that are trashed and obsolete still fill the garage. I guess in part because they still have some perceived value to me, if only to provide memories, and also because I don’t really know what to do with any of it. For example, I still have my first head torch, a classic vintage Petzl Zoom (with bulbs) – remember those!?. Probably should be in a museum by now!
That all said, I did just replace my old North Face Solo 12 tent after one too many nights suffering condensation and leaking seams. I haven’t yet discarded with it. So, as with everything else, it’s in the garage. Out of sight and out of mind. I don’t want to put it out with the rubbish and figured at some point I’d take it too a fabric recycle bank at the tip. The poles I figured could be used for spare sections should I should ever need any, although I’d have to be really lucky to have that many breakages! Like the rest of us, I don’t have all the answers. And whilst I think the purchase of my new Lightwave Sigma s15 was justified, It made me realise that I should try to seek a similar lifespan for other items I own. Just like the 15 years I got out of my old Solo 12.
I donate it to Goodwill or Salvation Army (surprised no one has mentioned this yet!).
As a Flagstaff, AZ local, one of the perks of our Grand Canyon river community is a small non-profit called Grand Canyon Youth (https://gcyouth.org/). They bring kids on the river and often those kids don’t have any gear (proper clothing, shoes, etc.) At the end of the commercial river trips I’ve been running this season, I’ve been asking passengers to please leave anything that they don’t see themselves using again (clothes, shoes, outerwear mostly) in a pile, and it gets washed and then donated to Grand Canyon Youth to outfit the kids that need it. It’s an awesome outlet for a lot of stuff that often gets bought specifically for one trip of a lifetime, and would otherwise end up in a landfill almost immediately.
There have also been a number of gear consignment shops popping up in small western towns that I’ve certainly sold plenty of things through (Snow Mountain River in Flagstaff, Moab Gear Trader, and others)
Repurposing and art are the two other outlets for more durable goods that have reached the end of their lives. Old oars become Adirondack-style chairs or other furniture, ammo cans that aren’t watertight are still good outdoor containers/campfire seats/step stools/bins for random things, bent oarlocks can be mounted in blocks of wood as a coatrack or guitar rack. I have recently been teaching myself to use a sewing machine to repair what can be repaired with materials salvaged from things that were beyond fixing
So if we’re gonna have things that had a footprint in their manufacture, then we should do our very best to make sure they are used to death. Try to have things used so much that by the time they become undesirable/obsolete (eg a “lightweight” 1995 two person tent that weighs 6 lbs and nobody wants these days), they’re worn out.
Perhaps like the Reduce – Reuse – Recycle order of priorities, we need:
1) Borrow?
2) Buy broken used item and repair it?
3) Buy working used (and then lend it out to others, or resell back into the used market)?
4) Rent? (only because a rental company is likely to have newer gear than your friend you borrow from)?
5) Buy new, and then lend out or sell on?
??
Another doco worth watching, is the Michael Moore one about the environment. Basically, we need to consume less. There’s no technology that’ll reduce our impact so much that we can keep having all the $hit we have now. Solar panels, electric cars, wind-turbines etc, they all have unsustainable footprints from their manufacture – short life – disposal.
I try to do 2 things:
1) If I’m buying new, I try to buy from companies that make a solid product that’s most likely to last longer. I also evaluate how likely I am to be able to fix wear and tear on something before I buy it.
2)Upcycle! When gear I own is past its useable life span, I try to use it to repair other pieces of gear OR I turn it into some sort of memento or wall decoration (as is the case with a very old pair of skis) to decorate the house/garage. Or I let my friends use it to repair their gear or decorate their houses etc… We’ve made dog bowls out of old tires/float bags, dog beds out of old foam, used old jacket components to repair moderately worn jackets, repaired tents with old rain coats, made a shade sail for the back patio out of old tents etc. You get the idea. It’s always fun to look at the upcycled materials and remember the adventures we had in them.
Having come into outdoor sports relatively recently, I haven’t worn out much gear…yet. But I know the day is coming. For now, I’m content to keep using the things that are past what most people would consider the useable life. My running shoes have holes in the uppers. My tent and sleeping bag were bought at an REI garage sale. My ski jacket has goretex patches all over. My ski boot shells are cracked. My ski touring backpack, I asked anyone if they had a pack that had some life left and got it for a bag of coffee. My trad rack is second hand. My camera is second hand.
Most of my most recent new purchases have been electronics, which I don’t love. A Garmin watch, InReach, Bluetooth earbuds. I know that electronics especially have some horrific stuff in their supply chain. But buying used electronic stuff weirds me out a bit.
For climbing gear, here in Switzerland Mammut has a program of recycling old climbing ropes https://www.mammut.com/ch/de/stories/close-the-loop-recycle-your-rope-reduce-your-footprint/ (sorry only in German or French) . Otherwise, reaching out to NGO/ associations being active in third world countries. They collect unwanted but still useful stuff from the North and bring it to population in the South. Climbing equipments and ropes are very handy for southern local farmers: they use the gear in their day to day activities (saw a Moroccan farmer using climbing ropes for his herd).
Patagonia also has a second hand program called “Worn Out”.
Are we all on the same page, that gear should only be recycled when it is fully worn out? Recycling a tent that you’ve hardly used, to get the 1 pound of alloy from the poles, is not good for the environment, as someone will have to buy a new tent, rather than being able to buy/have your 1/2 used tent.
Have your gear used as much as possible, help others not need to buy gear, by lending your gear out, and repair any gear you can. Buy as much used gear as you can when you can’t borrow. See a bike with a flat tire at a friends house (or just locked up at a bike rack), then repair the flat tire! Find something that needs a replacement part in a friends garage, then contact the manufacturer yourself for them, and get the broken part, fit it and get the gear back to life.
There is a wicked gear shop near me in Maine called the Portland Gear Hub that loves to take older and well loved items. You can put them on consignment for credit, or straight up donate them and they will repurpose the items or donate them to the non profit they are a part of. Awesome cause and feels very good knowing that well loved gear can continue on being well loved!