Durabilité
à propos du recyclage
For over 20 years, the Geneva Skateboard Museum has been collecting used, abandoned, or discarded skateboards with the goal of giving them new life. This is not just an ecological perspective, but a matter of common sense and logic. Skateboards are made from wood, metal, aluminum, and plastic, and their place is not in a waste bin. Each part can be dismantled and recycled independently, rather than discarding the whole object.
Before reaching that point, we try to salvage what we can with several lines of work:
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The rare piece: It is preserved, identified, and archived at the museum. If possible, it is directly exhibited.
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The rare piece in poor condition: If the skateboard has heritage value but is not in good enough condition to be preserved or exhibited, it is dismantled and becomes an organ donor for reassembling a future piece.
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The common piece in good condition: It is cleaned, reconditioned, and offered to community centers, schools, or associations.
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The common piece in poor condition: It is not yet ready for destruction. Some parts can be offered to artists, as the demand for upcycling skateboards is constant and growing.
Only after exploring all these options do we dismantle the remaining pieces to sort them for recycling. The wood, plastic, and metal are separated. Anyone wishing to dispose of a skateboard or parts can drop them off at the museum, or we will arrange for their collection. We also authenticate pieces and advise you on their actual value.
We also contribute to raising awareness about the origins and construction methods of our Pulp68 skateboards. While we always strive to improve, it was essential for us to engage in a thoughtful reflection on our practices. Offering solutions that align with our values and ethics has always been important to us.
While most skateboards are made in China under questionable conditions, both for the workers and the environment, we have chosen to continue production in Canada, as was the case in the 1980s.
Our production facility, Control MFG, exclusively sources FST-certified wood (https://www.controlmfg.com/history/) and does not use chemical resins, opting for water-based glues that are less harmful to the environment.
The skateboards are printed in a craft workshop in Au Chenit, in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, by Johann Tièche, who has specialized in this field for many years. He places particular importance on the reprocessing of his products and components. While we do not have specific figures or data to guarantee this, both facilities have been visited by our team to ensure they meet these promises. This choice, although "suicidal" in the face of current market trends, is our contribution to the skateboard scene and to raising awareness about the use of certain polluting components. Apart from the grip tape (the surface glued to the top of the skateboard), our boards are completely biodegradable. Even though we encourage you to bring your worn-out or broken board back to us, disposing of it in a pile of rotting wood would not pose a significant environmental harm. Some factors, like the use of maple—our raw material, which doesn’t grow locally—cannot be changed, making it impossible to significantly reduce our carbon footprint during production. However, we do our best to minimize pollutants within our production chain. We also aim to reduce unnecessary transportation and prioritize maritime shipping over air freight. This responsibility lies with us as producers, not with the end customer, to whom we would otherwise impose a higher price to guarantee the "organic" nature of our production.
These are the choices we have made, and we stand by them for you.