Survey Finds Skiers Are Four Times More Likely To Bin Old Boots Than Recycle
Survey Finds Skiers Are Four Times More Likely To Bin Old Boots Than Recycle
Published : 09-Nov-2026 07:48
Thousands of unwanted ski boots could be gathering dust in lofts, garages and cupboards across Britain, with new research suggesting that many skiers abandon boots because they are simply too uncomfortable to wear.
A survey of 2,560 skiers by specialist boot fitter The Skiers Lounge found that 42% had stopped using a pair of ski boots they had bought because they were uncomfortable. Almost one in five (18%) gave up on their boots during or after their very first ski trip.
Many of these unwanted boots are then left unused rather than recycled.
The research found that 15% of skiers have uncomfortable boots stored away in a loft, garage or cupboard, while 9% have thrown a pair away. Just 2% said they had recycled them.
This means skiers are more than four times as likely to throw away uncomfortable boots as recycle them.
Scott Hargrave, owner of The Skiers Lounge, said:
"Every pair of ski boots gathering dust in a loft is wasted money and wasted materials. What really stands out from our survey is that most of those boots didn't wear out. They were simply never right for the skier's feet in the first place."
The Skiers Lounge has joined Tecnica and Nordica's Recycle Your Boots programme, which accepts old ski boots of any brand and recycles them into materials used to manufacture new boots and other products.
The findings come from The Big British Ski Boot Survey, conducted by The Skiers Lounge between 13 and 30 October 2026. Of the 2,560 respondents, 99% were UK residents.
The survey highlights the importance of getting the right fit when buying ski boots, as well as the potential for recycling schemes to give unwanted equipment a second life rather than leaving it forgotten in storage or sending it to landfill.
Join the conversation : Discuss this in the J2Ski Forum
This news item has been viewed 18 times.