GEAR FEAR

Did you watch the Indian Premiere League (IPL) cricket matches that started on 18 April 2008? You have. After all, sports is one of the most favourite pastimes around the world that keeps you fit and entertained. No wonder that sports goods form a multi-billion dollar industry.

But, the industry may not be too healthy for the environment. Wondering why? Because we often do not return what we take from nature…



1. ECOTAKING

As with any product, nature provides most of the raw materials for making sports equipment. For example,

Crude oil, metals and other materials extracted from the earth: Crude oil is used to make various kinds of plastics and polymers like polyurethane(PU), thermoplastic polyurethane(TPU), butyl and silicone. These are turned into balls, helmet shells, padding for boxing gloves, and so on. Metals are used in sports gears like accessories, racquets, handles, chains and face masks.

Timber/wood from trees: Used to make bats. For example, English, Kashmir and Poplar willows are used to make cricket bats, while Ash tree trunks are used to make baseball bats.

Mature trees –between 15 to 40 years old – are cut to make bats!

Natural latex rubber, cotton and cotton threads derived from plants: Used in making and stitching balls, and for filling and padding of various sports goods like boxing gloves.


Glue made from natural substances: like natural rubber, animal bones, and so on. Used to stick everything! (Check out the lifecycle of glue in the June 2006 issue of GT)


Leather: The skin of a boxing glove is made of top grain tanned leather. Some manufacturers also line their gloves with a layer of leather. Balls were traditionally made of this material as well.



2 - GREAT MAKING

Bats: Timber is cut, waxed and dried to remove moisture, and given the basic blade shape. It is then compressed to give it enough strength to withstand the impact of a cricket ball. A handle, laminated cane and rubber strips, is glued to the blade.

Balls: Sheets of synthetic leather attached to several layers of cloth are cut into hexagonal panels. A bladder (much like a balloon) is made of natural/synthetic rubber. The hexagonal panels are stitched around the bladder, and inflated.

Boxing gloves: Leather sheets are cut in shape, lined either with leather or nylon taffeta. Then they are stuffed with high-density polyurethane, Latex, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foam or cotton, and stitched.

Helmets: The helmet outer shell is constructed, mostly of a tough plastic called polycarbonate alloy. Protective ‘air-liners’ made of elastic materials are affixed, which like air, absorb kinetic energy of movement and decrease the impact of a blow to the head. Jaw pads, face-masks, and chin-straps are then attached.


3. ON THE WAY

Once the equipment are made, they are packed and sent to various outlets in different countries. And on their way, they create some more trouble, such as harmful emissions during transportation and packaging wastes.

4. USE ‘EM

We buy these goods, and use them.

5. WHAT NEXT?

All these sports goods deflate, break, or wear out. So what do we do? Not throw them away, obviously.

Most of the sports equipment cannot be recycled because the materials used are either glued, stitched, printed or cannot be separated out for recycling. So, reuse them or simply, donate your gears! You may give it to organisations that give these goods to people or children who cannot afford to buy new ones.

In March 1974, the Chipko movement by the women of Reni village in Uttarakhand, India, saved the trees of the Reni forest from being cut for making cricket bats. But did it save other forests? No. Now, Indian manufacturers make about 240,000 cricket bats a year from English Willow, and another million from Kashmir and Poplar timber. Imagine the number of mature trees that are cut each year! So, do we need another Chipko movement?

ILLUSTRATIONS: SHYAMAL