Global Forum for Sports and Environment
New Life for Old EquipmentIf your cupboard or garage is starting to get that musty locker-room feel, then the National Waste Prevention Coalition (NWPC) have a few ideas on how you can 'reduce, reuse or recycle' your old sports equipment, help others and avoid adding to that local landfill. "Every product has a life span of two cycles at least. Or maybe three," says Mike May, spokesman for Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association International, in North Palm Beach, Florida. "You can always restring a tennis racket; you can always put a new shaft in a golf club. " New networks are constantly developing to get your unused equipment to someone who needs it. In the United States and Canada there are 500 Play It Again Sports franchises that handle used as well as new equipment and encourage customers to come in and trade or sell their used goods. "It's a fantastic way for moms and dads and kids to stay involved in sports and not cost an arm and a leg," says Steve Murphy, director of Play It Again Sports, a division of Winmark Corp., in Minneapolis. http://www.playitagain-sports.com/ Professional athletes are also realizing that encouraging recycling is a way that they can help give underprivileged children a chance to develop in the sport they love. Before last January's Super Bowl in San Diego, the National Football League organized a sports equipment and book collection from local schools. Students collected several truckloads of footballs, baseballs, and other equipment that went to local programs for needy children. Some charities organize specific drives to help children overseas. Last summer, World Vision launched its "Get A Kick Out of Sharing" project. Over the next three years, it aims to collect 250,000 soccer balls for some of the world's poorest kids. " They love soccer, but they don't have the equipment," says Karen Kartes, spokeswoman for World Vision, in Federal Way, Washington. "They end up making balls out of rags or plastic bags." (http://www.worldvision.org/soccerballs/ ) Since 1986, a group called Shoes for Africa in Boulder, Colorado, has collected more than 20,000 running shoes for poor athletes and children around the world. "They go anywhere they're needed," including Latin America and even Indian reservations and homeless shelters in the U.S., says Michael Sandrock, an author of several running books and the group's founder. Of course, the shoes should be new or near new. For more information, see: http://www.boulderrunning.com/oneworldrunning/ (Shoes for Africa is now called One World Running) If your old running shoes are truly beyond help, then why not try Nike's recycle program that separates the materials and grinds them down to make new running tracks and other sports surfaces. http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/nikebiz.jhtml?page=27&cat=reuseashoe
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