Rossignol’s New Recyclable Ski

Rossignol announced plans to share the formula for its recyclable ski with industry stakeholders in the mountain & winter sport segment. The aim is to actively contribute to the launch or development of exchangeable technical solutions that will further facilitate the recyclability of products throughout global mountain and winter sport markets.

Their new Essential Ski is produced using a simple philosophy and the fewest possible materials. Eco-design incorporating 62% recycled, certified natural and bio-sourced materials. Additionally the graphic design process uses no solvents or water and the skis are produced using renewable energy.

Improving end-of-life management for a product means better design right from the start and this has inspired Rossignol to design a ski made from as few materials as possible, all of which can be recycled and reused. In comparison with a conventional ski with a current average recyclability rate of just 10%, over 75% of this new ski can be recycled.

“As a first step in this movement, we have called this ski ESSENTIAL. This All-Mountain ski offering perfect skiability will be produced, repaired and recycled in Sallanches, in the heart of the Alps.

Our Life Cycle Analyses (LCA) show that components account for between 60 and 70% of the product’s carbon footprint. At end of life, most of the raw materials cannot currently be recycled.

We have sought to reduce the number of materials and select only those that can be easily recycled at end of life to move closer to a circular economy.”

Here is the offical press release from Rossignol:

Rossignol Group Shares Composition of its First Recyclable Ski, The Essential
Encourages further industry collaboration to meet the challenges of creating a circular economy throughout the ski industry

ST-JEAN-DE-MOIRANS, France, (Oct. 18, 2022) – To initiate a more collective industry movement, the Rossignol Group today shared its plans for its new recyclable ski with all stakeholders in the mountain & winter sport segment. The aim is to actively contribute to the launch or development of exchangeable technical solutions that will further facilitate the recyclability of products throughout global mountain and winter sport markets. 
By 2028, the Rossignol Group expects that one-third of its ski ranges will be part of a circular economy approach.
An invitation to imagine the recycling of tomorrow, together 
The Rossignol Group aspires to create momentum and movement around the life cycle and recyclability of skis and winter sports equipment. To accelerate this transformation, the French company is emphasizing the importance of initiating a collaborative approach in order to collectively reduce the environmental impacts of the segment.

Highlighting its commitment, the Group has announced today that it will make the technical specificities of its first recyclable ski, the Essential, available to all, including industry peers and competitors. The details of the construction and composition of the Rossignol Essential ski will be available on an open access basis. Technical plans and nomenclature will be available on the Rossignol Group website here beginning October 18th. 
 
Innovation at the heart of collaborative effort 
Following more than three years of investment in R&D, the Rossignol Group developed its first ski with a high recyclability potential of 77% ⎯ around 10 times higher than the average of skis currently manufactured today. By publicly sharing its first eco-responsible innovation, the Group hopes to foster the type of collective engagement that can move all stakeholders toward more sustainable production and a more circular economy.  

“We are very conscious of the current issues related to the recycling of winter sports equipment today. As a historic player in the mountain economy, we have a social and environmental responsibility to address this,” adds Vincent Wauters, CEO of the Rossignol Group. “Our desire is to encourage cooperative interaction amongst all stakeholders by exploring potential improvements in recyclability and the life cycle stages of products. This movement will only be possible together.”  

The desire to initiate a collaborative recycling process
Rossignol has collaborated with MTB. A key player in the field of recycling, MTB has developed a new process for grinding, separating, and re-using materials through a technological process that improves the recycling of conventional skis, and in particular, the new Rossignol Essential recyclable ski.

In addition to sharing the construction plans for the Essential, the Rossignol Group also wishes to promote the development of specific ski recycling channels. To this end, a massification of flows is envisioned that would allow 

the entire winter sports industry to benefit from the Group’s advances in the recycling and recovery of products at end-of-life.

In sharing the innovation and design of its first recyclable ski, the Group hopes to contribute to an acceleration in the global development of collective initiatives across various segments and global markets for the collection, recycling, and repurposing of winter sports equipment.