Your yoga mat has served its purpose – but what now?
It would be a shame to simply throw it in the trash, considering all the useful things it could be used for. Nevertheless, we asked ourselves how a yoga mat can be disposed of in the most environmentally friendly way possible or, in the best case, even recycled from the disposal site; that's why we've asked various mat manufacturers and disposal sites for you.
The best place to take your old PVC mat is to take it to your local recycling center.
It is important that there is a recycling bin there; unlike the yellow bin, where you can only dispose of packaging materials, plastics (and even metals, by the way) can be put in the recycling bin in general. Not every municipality has a recycling bin; it is best to ask your municipal waste disposal company beforehand. A PVC mat such as the Kurma Mat can be recycled up to eight times if you put it in the recycling bin. In the waste sorting plant, it is either manually or mechanically fed into a sorted container in which similar materials are collected for recycling. In order not to make sorting more difficult, you should dispose of your mat whole and not cut it up beforehand.
In contrast to PVC, natural rubber is completely biodegradable; however, it takes several years for it to decompose. Liforme mats, for example, are made of natural rubber and a special coating made of ecological PU, which is also biodegradable; according to the manufacturer, these mats decompose under landfill conditions within about one to five years. This may be acceptable in a compost heap at home, but a yoga mat made of natural rubber has no place in the organic waste bin. The waste from the organic waste bin is composted into humus in a composting plant within four to six weeks; much too quickly for a natural rubber mat. In addition, pure natural rubber mats also have a stabilizing net inside them that ensures that the mat does not stretch when you practice; this net is usually not made of organic material and is therefore not biodegradable. The most recommended solution for disposing of your natural rubber mat - if you do not have a compost heap and a lot of time - is to put it in the residual waste.
Some waste disposal companies have advised us that yoga mats can be declared as bulky waste and sent for recycling via a sorting facility if the material is recognized as recyclable. It is best to simply ask your municipal waste disposal company in advance how you can best dispose of your mat in an environmentally friendly way.
Instead of throwing away your old mat, you also have the option of donating it
or to give it away; even if you no longer use it for practice, there is sure to be someone out there who can still use it. Ask social institutions in your area whether they are interested in donating a yoga mat. Sometimes they offer yoga courses for socially disadvantaged people and/or children, and if your yoga mat is not already falling apart, it might still bring joy to someone here. Since a yoga mat can also be used as an insulating mat, you can alternatively donate it to the city's homeless shelter. Animal shelters would also be happy to receive padded sleeping pads for their animals.If you don't want to part with your old mat, but don't want to cut it up either, it will certainly serve you well as a beach or picnic mat for some time to come.
However, if you don't mind using scissors to cut your mat, you can still make lots of beautiful and useful things out of it even if you don't have much crafting skills. With very sharp scissors (e.g. tailor's scissors) or a sharp carpet knife, you can easily cut it up without fraying it; the individual pieces can be trimmed into the appropriate shape and used as a place to put shoes, for example. Your old yoga mat can also be used as a floor mat in the car.
You can also cut glass coasters out of it or make drawer inserts, mouse pads, key rings, a wrist rest for working on the PC, knee-friendly pads for housework and gardening or even padding for your pets - e.g. for transport baskets, as a template in front of the cat litter tray, as a base for bowls or simply placed in the trunk so that your dog can lie on something soft during the car journey.
Strips from your old yoga mat are a great way to seal off drafty windows and doors. You hardly have to cut up your mat if you put it in the windshield of your parked car as sun protection. You can also use it as padding for hard benches or chairs - even outdoors, when camping or in the garden - or stick it under table or chair legs as a slip stopper for your furniture.
Your old yoga mat also works well as a pinboard and looks particularly chic if you cut it to size and put it in a picture frame (without the glass in front of it, of course). You can also use your yoga mat as a protective ring around a mug of hot drinks; you can simply sew a strip of the right size together at the ends.
The DIY possibilities are endless and there are no limits to your imagination!