What if your winter sports equipment was not only recyclable but also biodegradable? With Crescent Moon’s new eco-snowshoes, your footprint could literally disappear.
Crescent Moon Snowshoes, a manufacturer of foam shoes, is stepping it up this year with a biodegradable material instead of recyclable foam. The material, called Eco-Plastic, will be made from materials like corn and potato starch and food waste. Yup, you read that right. They can turn corn starch into snowshoes.
According to Crescent Moon, the new Eco-Plastic foam degrades at a rate of 50% in just 4 months and 100% in one year. That’s impressive for any biodegradable product, but especially a snowshoe. The strap material on the new shoes will stay the same.
“We’re always looking to improve our snowshoes,” says Jake Thamm, co-founder and president of Crescent Moon Snowshoes. “It’s important to us that we do our best to minimize the ecological footprint on the lands where we recreate.”
Crescent Moon will make the eco-shoe via the same method as before: with injection molds to create the foam. The new material has been certified non-toxic by SGS (an inspection and certification company).
Exact details (including the price tag) on the new biodegradable foam shoe are still in the works. But we won’t have to wait long: the new models will debut at Outdoor Retailer and will be available in the 2020/2021 season.
Even though these snowshoes will biodegrade if left in the elements, Crescent Moon claims similar longevity and durability as long as you take care of them and keep them indoors. We haven’t tested this specific model yet, but the foam ones work great in non-technical terrain.
Crescent Moon Snowshoes was recently acquired by Dunn-Rite Products, based in Elwood, Indiana. Dunn-Rite, which mainly makes summer sport products, is expanding into winter products with this acquisition of Crescent Moon. Currently based in Boulder, Colorado, Crescent Moon will move its operations to Indiana.
