The pristine mountains often don’t look so pristine at the end of the season. And while winter turns to spring often much of the outdoor gear that won’t survive another season all too often ends up in landfills. But now the SnowSports Industries America’s Snow Sports Recycling Program has looked to repurpose much of that old material and help utilize it in construction or even landscaping, and in some cases into new products.
The Snow Sports Recycling Program has reportedly collected more than 350 tons of skis, snowboards, boots, poles and helmets – and that’s just in the Denver and Salt Lake City metro areas!
So far material such as composite lumber is being reused to make decking, furniture, store and tradeshow fixtures; while other materials are being recycled into stackable blocks and cultured rock for the landscaping industry.
How Can You Get Involved?
To participate, retailers and resorts need to implement an opt-out fee of $1.00 on all new ski, snowboard and boot purchases along with charging a $.79 opt-out fee on all ticketed rental transactions.
With the opt-out rental program retailers and resorts qualify their retired rentals to be recycled and fully written-off. The retired rental equipment at the end of three (3) year lifecycle can be donated to the SIA foundation and retailer or resorts will be able to take a charitable deduction.
The recovered donated rental equipment will be processed and recycled in our Loveland facility along with other recovered equipment or passed on to charitable organizations for further use.
This option gives retailers and resorts an alternative to trying to sell retired equipment, eliminates worn-out equipment from rental pools and augments “Green” initiatives that many retailers and resorts have already established.
All fees will be forwarded and collected by SIA monthly. Participating retailers and resorts will need to arrange for delivery of recovered/discarded equipment to SIA designated affiliate collection centers in their local area.