VIV Says: Blog

While we love yoga, we’ve always wondered what to do with our old mats. Throwing them into the trash seems to be against the principles of the practice, and we can’t bear to turn a blind third eye to creating additional landfill waste.

We did our sort-of-recycling — one of our discarded mats held a slippery rug in place for a few years. But we’re happy to report that Oregon-based Recycle Your Mat allows you to mail in old mats to be recycled into shoes, flooring — and even other yoga mats. Recycle Your Mat teamed up with Earth-friendly yoga company Manduka, so anyone who sends in her old mat will get a 20 percent discount on Manduka products.

Manduka offers eco-friendly options such as the eKO Mat ($63), devoid of foaming agents and plasticizers and made with a nontoxic softening process, and the eKO Lite ($37.20) mat that is lighter weight for easier transport. Manduka’s Black Mat PRO ($85) — zero-waste and sustainable — has a lifetime guarantee, so presumably you will never need to throw out a mat again. Shoppers can click on the recycle option to receive a Mat Recycling Kit ($8.50) — a shipping bag and prepaid UPS label to send the old mat to Recycle Your Mat — and will then receive a code for 20 percent off their next purchase. Or get the code first by mailing your old mat to Recycle Your Mat before ordering.

The Manduka special will run at least though March, says Stephanie Stano, Recycle Your Mat’s founder. She started the program last year and so far, at least 50 percent of the mats sent in have been recycled into new products and 30 percent have been donated to community programs. Yoga studios also can collect old mats for recycling as well and receive a 10 percent discount from Manduka.

We love the idea of yogis banding together to make a difference. Do you think you’ll recycle that old yoga mat? Or will it be relegated to a rug-holder?

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