When Stephanie Stano of Eugene got a new yoga mat for Christmas two years ago, she wondered what she would do with her old one. Little did she know, this simple thought would soon evolve into a trendy, nationwide “go green” business called Recycle Your Mat.
“I wanted to create a system that magnifies the sum of our efforts,” said Recycle Your Mat founder Stephanie Stano. “Together, yogis can make great change in the consumer marketplace by recycling their mats en masse to be used in new product life cycles.”
Stano, looking for an environmentally friendly way to dispose of her used yoga mat, noticed that it was typical for new yoga students to quickly realize that yoga was not for them.
“The problem with yoga is that you are going to need to invest in a mat even if you don’t know if you will like yoga or not,” Stano said. “I started to wonder, if these people aren’t coming back to yoga class, then neither are their mats.”
When Stano began extensively researching the yoga mat industry and contacting mat manufacturers, she found that there was a growing need for yoga mat recycling. In addition, Stano found that recycling a plastic product such as a yoga mat into another useful item has an immediate environmental advantage.
“What a lot of people don’t know is that people want their used yoga mat,” Stano said.
“Your mat is not just garbage; other people are actively seeking your used yoga mat.”
Recycle Your Mat has set up various convenient drop-off locations for those looking to unload their used yoga mats. Many yoga studios in Eugene are designated drop-off locations, and the University Student Recreation Center will soon be one of the many Eugene locations.
University senior Jenna Starkey has recently donated two yoga mats to Recycle Your Mat.
Starkey said giving something away she didn’t need anymore was a simple way for her to give back.
“I don’t know how I ended up with two yoga mats in my closet this year, but I am delighted that I have finally found them a home,” Starkey said. “Yoga mats are one of those products that people buy for inspiration. I guarantee there are many other unused yoga mats hanging around in people’s closets and under beds just like mine. Stephanie’s service is smart, easy and makes you truly feel good about extending the life cycle of an unused product.”
One local drop-off location for used mats is Bikram’s Yoga College of India in downtown Eugene. Marty Sewell, a front desk employee at the studio, said that Stano makes the process of collecting mats easy.
“I think this is a fabulous program,” Sewell said. “It is so nice to know that there is a purposeful place for these mats to go; it is a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders as a yoga studio. Stephanie comes right to our door to collect the used mats and is always thanking us, when really we should be thanking her.”
Stano started out collecting yoga mats from local Eugene studios and individuals and now her business has grown nationwide. Recycle Your Mat now receives mats from studios in 41 states, and this contagious trend is now making its way overseas.
“It’s not just us yogis participating,” Stano said. “It has really become a phenomenon. I have been contacted by people in China, Australia and the European yoga network who are all interested in implementing this idea in their own countries.
Stano has become the once-missing link between manufacturers and discarded plastic and rubber yoga mats that were once filling landfills.
“What I do is really unique,” Stano said. “I group mats to fit what the manufacturers are in need of. Some will only want a certain color or only want rubber mats; they get a choice in what kind of mats they receive.”
Currently, many manufacturers are turning recycled yoga mats into things such as yoga props, padding and bags, but Stano said there is much research and development going into using recycled mats for shoes and clothing.
“Once we get more mats, we can turn them into more things,” Stano said.
As for the future, Stano says that her ultimate goal involves manufacturers actively thinking about recycling when they are designing their products.
“Ultimately, I want to take this model of recycling from the yoga industry and apply it to other manufacturers who use plastic,” Stano said. “I want to get them thinking about what they make and what happens to it at the end of the life cycle.”
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