Eco Friendly Sports
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The Environmental Impact of sports equipment is huge. Bats, helmets, balls, gloves, skin pads and other sports equipment is made primarily from plastics that are not easily recycled.
A side issue is the amount of water (bottles) energy bars (packaging) Night Lights (energy) and equipment going into landfills every day.
I Just Gotta Tell Ya:
- 30 Million new balls are made every year
- 2.5 Billion gallons of water/day are used to water golf courses
- 2 Million barrels of oil per day in wasted energy from over illumination (night lights
- 70% of the worlds sports balls are produced in Pakistan – where 30% of the population lives below the poverty line.
What’s An Active Person to Do?
1.) Before you buy- consider renting or leasing or borrowing sports equipment on a per use basis. Or buy used equipment.
2.) Try to buy equipment made from recycled materials.
3.) Eliminate plastic bottles and waste
4.) Do not litter and pick up litter on the playing fields
5.) Donate or recycle used and old equipment.
Eco Friendly Sports Equipment Resources
- Fair Trade Sports is the first US supplier of certified Fair trade sporting equipment. Fair Trade Sports sells sustainable sports balls and designates the after-tax profits to children’s charities.
- ecoconsciousmarket.com “For-Benefit” online commerce site based in Boulder, Colorado. We sell the finest ecologically and socially responsible products available and donate a minimum of 10% of every purchase to the exceptional non-profit organizations listed on our website
Resources
- Fair Trade Resource Network-
- Eco X Sports co-x stands for ecological experiences. They are an organization whose mission is to help connect and engage individuals in eco-experiences through both recreational and competitive sporting events, athletic instruction, lifestyle education and outdoor-related research.
- Happy Hippie
on January 13th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Another great post, I’d like to also recommend buying sports equipment at those used Sporting Goods Stores; we got one here in Ventura, CA called Play It Again where people bring in quality used goods and people can purchase at a discount. Peace.