Earth Day 2025: Recycled-Material Medals Are the Default Now 🌱

Recycled-content aluminum and brass cut the carbon footprint of a finisher medal by ~90% versus virgin metal. After Paris 2024 and London 2012 set the precedent, 2025 is the year it becomes the default ask in every race brief.

Why the Carbon Number Is So Big

Smelting virgin aluminum from bauxite takes roughly 14 kWh per kilogram. Re-melting recycled scrap takes about 0.7 kWh. For a 50g medal at a 5,000-runner race, that gap translates to about 3 tons of CO2 avoided per event — a number worth printing on the back of the medal itself.

Anodizing and Plating Quality Identical

Recycled aluminum and brass take anodizing and plating identically — same color depth, same wear resistance. The visible difference under a microscope is zero. The only real trade-off is supply volatility; lock your quantity early so the foundry can source matched-grade scrap.