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Go Green: Recycled and Eco Friendly Disc Golf Discs

In this blog we will look at the environmental aspects of disc golf discs and discuss ways to minimize the impact. We’ll look at what some manufacturers are doing to reuse and recycle plastic discs. Plus we will talk about other ways that we can be environmentally conscious as we participate in the sport of disc golf.

Long Live Plastic

If you grabbed your go-to driver and buried it in your backyard, your great-great-great grandchild would be able to dig it up and it would still be mostly intact. It might be more pitted and have a rougher feel, but it won’t have broken down much in that time span. That is just the nature of plastic. If you throw away an old disc, you essentially are burying it, and it will be around for hundreds of years. What other option do you have?

Plastic Blends

Most discs are made with a blend of plastic types . While this makes them feel awesome in our hand, it becomes problematic if we want to recycle the disc. Products made from a single plastic type come with a recycle logo and include a number that tells you which type of plastic types that product is made from. They can easily be recycled. Multi-type plastics don’t have that luxury. But there are still options for recycling.

Manufacturer Response

Manufacturers saw a couple possible solution to recycling their blemished plastic. First, they sold discs as factory seconds at a discount from their regularly priced discs. Some discs only have minor blemishes but still have the flight characteristics of a new discs. Those discs could be sold for less that retail, keeping the plastic on the market without adding any additional processing.

If discs were in worse shape than factory seconds and not resalable to the public, manufacturers still have an option to use them instead of tossing them in a landfill. They could shred the plastic and use it to make new discs. Since they formulated the plastic, they would know its properties and know what other plastics it would be compatible with. Many different brands offer discs with pre-consumer recycled plastic.

Brands With Eco Friendly Plastics

Innova has its Echo Star line which is made of at least 50% recycled materials.

Dynamic Discs offers discs in recycled plastics such as BioFuzion, BioGold, and Revive.

Latitude 64 reuses their discs in their BioGold and Recycled plastics.

Westside has Revive plastic, and MVP has R2, both of which use blemished plastic to create new discs.

Doomsday Discs has it’s Biohazard plastic which is partially made from recycled material. They also have Landfill plastic. Landfill is made from recycled / regrind plastic that would normally go to the, you guessed it, landfill.

Discraft has been saving discs that didn’t pass their quality control measures, and now they are using the plastic from those discs to make new molds. Check out their Recycled ESP and imagine what discs those molds were made from.

Yikun now offers the Eco-Friendly Inner Colour  Ultimate Frisbee. It is an Ultimate disc made from recycled plastics, for the environmentally conscious players.

The above plastic types are good examples of using existing plastic to make a new disc. Other brands use more eco-friendly plastics to begin with to produce a disc that doesn’t use as much non-renewable resources.

Discs Made from “Environmentally Friendly” Materials

Euro Disc is a German brand that makes ultimate and discs golf discs. They are demonstrating a strong commitment to environmental stewardship. Embracing eco-friendly practices, Eurodisc produces its range of frisbee discs, including Ultimate , Kids, and Mini models, from 100% bio-based organic plastic, derived from renewable resources. This approach ensures that the discs are sustainable and can be recycled through normal household waste systems.

AGL has its hemp blend, which used the amazing renewable resource of hemp to produce some of their discs.

Gateway has its Organic plastic, which uses recycled rubber and a corn-based bio-polymer to produce an amazing feeling plastic. They also off Hemp blend, which combines recycled rubber and hemp. Hemp is a renewable, natural, versatile plant that can be made into many different products.

Aerobees is Frances first disc manufacturer and their focus is biosourced materials, which are materials made from organic biological origins.

Not Recyclable

Although the aforementioned efforts by manufactures help reduce the amount of natural resources used when making the discs we love, most of today’s discs have one issue in common: Their multi-plastic ingredients make them mostly non-recyclable.  That is the environmental cost of making disc golf discs with the current plastic choices. However, one company is trying to change that cost.

Trash Panda Disc Golf

I was able to visit with and interview Jesse from Trash Panda Disc Golf several years ago in Colorado. At the time, Jesse had an ambitious goal to make disc golf sustainable. He wanted to make discs out of recycled plastic , and make them recyclable, too. How has he done since then? I reached out to Jesse for an update! Here is what he said:

“Since we chatted last in my garage, we’ve released two molds made from 100% recycled plastic – the Inner Core and the Dune. With the success of those two molds, we’ve diverted 15,000 lbs of plastic from landfills and continue to exceed even our own expectations of what is possible.

“In 2023 we proudly became the first disc golf company to ever achieve B Corp certification – which is a month-long assessment that ensures companies meet the highest ethical and environmental standards.”

In addition to achieving his goal of producing a recyclable disc out of recycled plastic, Jesse and the crew at Trash Panda have set up a great program for recycling discs. Disc golfers can send in their unwanted/damaged/broken discs in exchange for a discount at Trash Panda. Those discs will then be either ground up am made into discs or other plastic products, or they will be donated to youth programs to grow the sport. Either way, the life of the plastic will be extended and will be kept out of the landfill. As of this writing, they have received over 11,500 discs and turned them into discs, minis, and Disc Dots.

What Can You Do?

What you can do to be environmentally conscious?

Buy environmentally friendly plastics – Make an effort to look see what recycled options are available. Many of the recycled plastics have an amazing feel and are still durable. By voting with our wallets, maybe was can get more options in ‘green’ plastics.

Buy used – Premium discs have a long life and we can usually get a used disc much cheaper than new. As an added benefit, used discs are sometimes already broken in. That will give us a seasoned disc immediately, instead of having to play with it for a long time.

Donate your discs – If you can trade discs with other disc golfers, or sell them to a retailer, we can end up with discs that we like or want to throw without the cost of buying new. If those options aren’t available, check out Trash Panda’s recycle program and give your old discs a new home.

There may be many aspects of our life where it is difficult or impossible to make a difference for the planet. Disc golf is not one of those things. Our sport comes with an environmental cost, but the steps we’ve outlined will help make disc golf more sustainable into the future. It always feels good to help with the environment, and if we can be helping while playing disc golf, that is a win-win for everyone.

Ted Hegemann

Ted is the Chief Writer at Infinite Discs. He is responsible for the State of Disc Golf Survey articles and most of the "best discs" posts. Ted runs all kinds of local disc golf leagues and tournaments and tournaments in Northern Utah.

• grow the sport

One comment

What an insightful article! It’s great to see a focus on sustainability in the disc golf community. Using recycled and eco-friendly materials for disc golf discs is a fantastic initiative. Not only does it align with the principles of environmental responsibility, but it also encourages players to make more conscious choices. It would be interesting to know more about specific brands or models that are leading the way in producing these green disc options. Keep up the good work Thank you for your thoughtful comment! We’re thrilled to hear that you appreciate the focus on sustainability in disc golf. Indeed, specific brands play a pivotal role in driving the eco-friendly disc movement. Brands have been at the forefront, incorporating recycled materials and environmentally conscious practices into their disc production. It’s exciting to witness the positive impact of these choices on both the sport and our planet. If you have any favorite eco-friendly discs or brands, feel free to share your recommendations! https://nearestlandfill.com/org/coffee-county-sanitary-landfill/

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Eco-Friendly Disc Golf Discs: A Guide

There are a number of things to consider when purchasing a new disc: Speed, glide, turn, fade , and whether or not this piece of plastic will prove to be the tipping point that leads to environmental Armageddon.

Okay, so your purchasing experience may not be clouded with apocalyptic thoughts, but factoring the environment into your buying decisions is something more players – and more companies –  are starting to do. 

MVP Disc Sports, Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64, Innova, and Gateway Disc Sports have all introduced eco-friendly discs to their product lines, and a handful of companies are working to make discs out of discarded plastics. But what is an "eco-friendly disc golf disc" exactly? And do these discs deserve a place in your bag? This article goes over some of the basics of disc golf's more eco-conscious products.

What Is an Eco-Friendly Disc Golf Disc? 

An "eco-friendly disc" is one that helps reduce the amount of new plastic used in disc production. Just about every disc we toss over hills and down tree alleys while enjoying the beautiful outdoors is made of plastic. As disc golf continues its explosive growth so does the demand for this non-biodegradable material that is most commonly made from fossil fuels – substances inextricably linked with environmental degradation and climate change.

Some disc manufacturers have reduced their need for plastic by creating lines made from bioplastics or other environmentally friendly materials. Other companies have started making discs from post-consumer plastic (i.e., garbage). But far and away, the most common eco-friendly method is to manufacture discs with "post-industrial" or "pre-consumer" plastic.

Disc Golf Discs Made From Recycled Pre-Consumer Plastic

Disc golf discs are made by melting down plastic, injecting the plastic into a mold, and then cooling it until it hardens. Latitude 64 put out a video that shows the process (and features some funky drums) in 2019. Check it out:

While the disc making process usually ends with a perfect piece of plastic destined for store shelves – and, later, disc golf baskets – sometimes quality checks reveal small imperfections that make the disc unworthy for general sale. Instead of throwing these imperfect discs into the trash, some disc manufacturers have started to recycle this pre-consumer plastic into new products. 

The following companies have all produced disc golf discs by recycling pre-consumer plastic into new discs:

While these companies have all produced pre-consumer recycled discs at some point, discs in those plastics can be hard to come by as not all of the companies are actively manufacturing these recycled products. 

Steve Holloway, the Marketing Manager for MVP – one of the companies that has recently released new recycled discs – told us of two other reasons for the seeming scarcity of these discs. First, players are buying these discs up as soon as they are released. And second, it takes a ton of "imperfect" regular production discs to justify a run of the recycled line.

"When you make discs, invariably you end up with some that aren't of the quality standard to be sold, and this means they have to be scrapped," Holloway said. "Our options with that scrap were always to throw it away or try and find a way to recycle it. Years ago, we made the decision to save all of our scrap as we researched how to effectively recycle it and reuse it. It was absolutely the right answer as new technologies have given us the ability to use these items and convert them into usable materials again…Unless we have enough material on hand to run 1000's of discs, we just save it up until we are able."

When you buy a disc made from pre-consumer recycled plastic, you're supporting a company that is making an effort to limit the amount of plastic that ends up in a landfill instead of a disc golfer's hands. However, these discs are still made from regular plastic that happens to have been used in multiple discs (one faulty, one not). Is there an even greener way to make reliable discs?

Disc Golf Discs Made From Post-Consumer Plastic

A more eco-friendly alternative to making discs from pre-consumer plastic is to create them from post-consumer plastic, like discarded water bottles or plastic bags. While there are a few companies that are making headway in this space, these discs are even harder to find than their pre-consumer counterparts. 

Trash Panda and Above Ground Level (AGL) are two companies that have started working on post-consumer plastic recycled discs. AGL, which bills itself as the "greenest disc golf company out there," offers putters , midranges , and drivers that are made from post-consumer recycled goods. Trash Panda, who spent most of 2021 testing and researching different plastics, currently offers minis made from recycled plastic and expects to introduce their first regular recycled disc at some point in 2022. 

Jesse Steadman, the founder of Trash Panda, told us that repurposing post-consumer plastic into a playable disc golf disc is a bit of a tricky process as there are thousands of different types of plastic that are all manufactured for a specific purpose. A water bottle, for example, isn't made of the same type of plastic used to make disc golf discs.

"Every single plastic, from your reusable water bottle to your single-use water bottle to your straw to your bottle cap to your pill bottle to your trash can," Steadman said. "Every single type of plastic is engineered for a specific purpose and discs are no different. Discs are engineered to fly reliably."

Are There Disc Golf Discs That Aren't Plastic?

While plastic is far and away the most popular material found in a disc golf disc, it isn't the only option available. Gateway Discs, for example, uses a mixture of recycled rubber and bioplastic (a plastic made from a renewable source like corn) to make their organic line of discs. While these organic discs use less petrol-based plastic in their production process, they, like all of the aforementioned eco-friendly discs, still aren't biodegradable.  Vibram once offered another non-plastic option with its rubber-based discs. Though you can still find their discs today, they stopped production years ago (but they seem to be testing the waters to start up again). Importantly, their discs were not 100% natural rubber, so they also weren't biodegradable.

We found a few biodegradable frisbees on the market, but there doesn't appear to be a biodegradable disc golf disc being made at the moment.

Another Way to Look at Eco-Friendly Discs

The main goal of buying an eco-friendly disc is to limit the amount of plastic that ends up polluting the environment. A few companies have addressed this problem by recycling discs destined for the landfill into new discs. Other companies have attempted to make discs from post-consumer plastic or organic materials. 

While filling your bag with these eco-friendly discs is certainly a commendable goal, it isn't the only way to be a more eco-friendly player. The next time you go out to the course, leave it a little cleaner than how you found it. Pick up the trash, recycle the cans, and, if you're able, bang the chains with a more environmentally-conscious piece of plastic.

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Help Make Disc Golf More Sustainable

Eco-friendly discs & accessories, made from 100% recycled plastic.

Recycled discs are made from 100% recycled materials, so you can enjoy the sport of disc golf with a clear conscience. These discs are made from recycled plastic that would otherwise end up in landfills or incinerators. By choosing recycled plastic discs, you are making a positive impact on the planet.

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Made From Bio Plastic

Bio plastic discs are made from renewable resources, such as corn, vegetable oil and saw dust making them a more sustainable option than traditional plastic discs. Bio plastic discs are also biodegradable, meaning they will break down in the environment over time.

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Made From Recycled Discs

When discs don't pass quality control, manufacturers have started grinding them down and mixing them into new plastic blends. Since most disc golf plastics cannot be easily recycled, this is a great step towards making the sports more sustainable.

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2.5 | 3 | 0 | 1.5

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