It's a problem that comes up frequently, if you're a) a motorcyclist who's been riding for a long time, and b) a motorcyclist who wears a helmet when you ride.
Gear manufacturers tell us that we should replace our helmets roughly every 5 years or so, and it's not only because they want us to (of course) buy new ones. No matter what the shell of your helmet is made out of, the EPS foam layers inside degrade over time. Obviously, if you've crashed in your helmet, it needs to be replaced even sooner if it's going to effectively keep your head safe during the next off.
But what are you supposed to do with your old helmet if it isn't safe to wear anymore?
Sure, many of us buy helmets not only to stay safe, but also because we like how a given design looks. So maybe, if we have room to do so, we'll turn our old helmets into wall decorations. I've seen some folks suggest turning them into hanging planters, too (a coconut coir liner can help here).
Only, how many pieces of wall decor and hanging planters can you actually use in your everyday life? I don't know about you, but I also don't love the idea of just throwing my old lid away to rot in a landfill somewhere.
Recycling motorcycle helmets is tricky, because they're made out of so many different materials that can be hard to separate. But at long last, it looks like one major gear maker is finally taking the plunge to make motorcycle helmet recycling widely available—in Europe, at least.
The company is Dainese, and the program is called Life Impacto. It's a new program that's funded in part by the European Union. As you may be aware, Dainese also owns AGV Helmets. But the really, truly great piece of news here is that Life Impacto welcomes any helmet you want to recycle from any brand, not just AGV. The only thing is, the helmets eligible for the Life Impacto recycling scheme can only have thermoplastic shells. No carbon fiber or other materials at this time, unfortunately.
Still, given the sheer number of folks who commute to jobs on motorbikes in the EU, and who probably opt for inexpensive thermoplastic helmets, this could be a serious game-changer if enough people know about it. There are a LOT of old helmets from every brand imaginable kicking around out there, and many of them have thermoplastic shells.
What happens to the helmets once you bring them to your local Dainese store in Europe? According to the firm, it "extract[s] and transform[s] plastic materials to create new sustainable products." So, in other words, it's kind of like other plastic recycling programs, only a bit more specialized since it's coming from spent motorcycle helmets here.
You can find a full list of participating European Dainese store locations here. Give them a call or stop in with your old thermoplastic motorcycle helmets to help keep them out of the waste stream!
