Petroleum is the raw material of all classic plastic materials - also and especially in sports. Conventional sports equipment, such as running shirts, sports shoes, bags or drinking bottles, often consists of up to 100 % crude oil. WINQS and a few other brands are trying to change this.
But why is crude oil actually so problematic? In fact, there are several reasons:
1. First of all, the processing of petroleum requires enormous amounts of energy - to be converted into the materials needed for the production of sporting goods. However, because it's disproportionately cheaper as a raw material than sustainable alternatives, petroleum remains the industry's favorite resource, particularly for financial reasons.
2. The longevity of plastics is a massive environmental problem. Eight million tonnes of plastic alone end up in the world's oceans every year. It usually takes several hundred years for this mass of waste to decompose. In the meantime, fishing nets, toothbrushes and hula hoops pollute the habitat of all living creatures and threaten their health.
3. A special problem is microplastics - synthetic particles smaller than 5 mm. They detach themselves mostly from plastic textiles during the washing process, because of their small size get past conventional plastic filters and end up in our water system. They are then eaten by animals we also tend to eat. On average, we consume microplastics the size of a credit card every week.
4. Crude oil is a finite resource, yet globally relevant to the system and with few exceptions extracted and distributed by non-democratic states. The political and economic dependencies have recently become even more visible after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. If all industries, including sports, were to emancipate themselves from oil, such states would lose a considerable part of their income.
How can the sports industry replace the use of petroleum-based plastics?
1. In fact, there are now numerous plant-based materials, such as wood fibres or hemp, that can completely replace plastic in textiles. Other materials, such as algae or castor oil, make it possible to reduce the need for more complex plastics, for example in the production of midsoles or zippers. Plant-based materials also bind CO2 during their growth phase and thus counteract global warming.
2 In the case of special applications where plastic cannot yet be completely dispensed with - for example in the case of stretchable or extremely water-resistant materials - plastic that has already been used should be recycled. This at least eliminates the need for "fresh" petroleum. In addition, manufacturers must switch to circular concepts that allow all their products to be recycled
3. Repairability and durability are two massively underestimated factors for reducing the global demand for plastics. If running shoes last, due to better materials and free repair services, 1,600 km instead of 800 km, we save 50% of the resources needed.
The sports industry still clings to conventional plastics and compensates its lack of innovation with greenwashing. Often a recycled upper is already enough to speak of a sustainable running shoe. Or single collections are presented and loudly marketed, with the majority of the manufactured products still being produced from "good old" petroleum.
But times, they are a-changin'. Join in and... let's get oil out of sports.
