Among the by-products of badminton are shuttlecock tubes, which are discarded when empty.
The Czech Badminton Federation, in keeping with the newly-adopted Sustainability Strategy of the Czech Olympic Committee, realised the potential for recycling shuttlecock tubes, and implemented a project for its collection and conversion into various other products. This innovative project won the 2024 BWF Promotion Award for the Czech Badminton Federation.
The Promotion Award recognises a Member Association that has successfully implemented programmes which promote and elevate badminton nationally.
Background
In 2023 the Czech Olympic Committee launched a new Sustainability Strategy, aimed at positively transforming national sport federations towards greater sustainability and accountability, reducing their negative environmental and economic impact by 2030. The Committee asked each federation to develop their own project.
The Czech Badminton Federation embraced this challenge and set about developing a badminton-based solution to a global issue. The answer was used shuttlecock tubes. The federation established a programme whereby clubs, schools and individuals could donate their used shuttle tubes, which are then processed by a third-party partner and recycled into various items including thermal insulation, ecological bedding and hot water tank systems. To date, the Czech Badminton Federation has engaged more than 20 clubs and collected over 200kg of used shuttle tubes; promoting a positive image of the federation and supporting the environment.
Running from September to December 2023, the federation worked with a third-party company called CIUR, which works with the cellulose fibre in recyclable materials to produce products in acoustic and thermal insulation, air sealing of buildings, heat pumps and hot water heating, ecological bedding and as additive for asphalt mixtures. After discussion with CIUR over two months, the two partners signed an agreement.
Implementation
The project involved informing the clubs, and on receiving the tubes, removing the plastic caps and aluminium foil (in some cases), compressing the tubes, collecting them at certain tournaments and transporting them to CIUR. Over three collection days in October and November, around 290kg of tubes was collected for recycling.
‘Important for Future’
Petr Martinec, President of Czech Badminton Federation, received the award on behalf of the federation, and underlined the importance of the project.
“Thank you to BWF for this award, which is much appreciated by Czech Badminton Federation. I’m glad that it was possible to start a collection of badminton tubes for recycling and using many things in construction, growing vegetables and much more. I expect this project will continue in the near future in the badminton federation and across the world.
“It’s very important, and we are involved in the project to collect shuttlecock tubes and using them in recycling for the future. All Czech people think (waste) is a global problem and a system like this is important for us and for our future. It was my idea last summer because all sports in Czechia are involved in this programme, so as President I was thinking what to do and how we could be involved, and we decided to collect shuttlecock tubes.”
