Plastics to be allowed by BWF?

It only says that synthetic shuttles are "allowed". That doesn't say anything about the fact when they will actually be used. But it creates a nice promotion headline that fits the current sustainability trend.

I know that Yonex have tested some top-secret synthetic shuttles at a BWF tournament last year (Yonex Italian International) and it's a shame that there hasn't been a single word about the actual shuttle used there yet. I sencerely hope that the development in that field will continue. It's more that obvious that there is huge potential to make better synthetic shuttles that behave similar to feathered ones.
 
s_mair said:
It only says that synthetic shuttles are "allowed". That doesn't say anything about the fact when they will actually be used. But it creates a nice promotion headline that fits the current sustainability trend.

I know that Yonex have tested some top-secret synthetic shuttles at a BWF tournament last year (Yonex Italian International) and it's a shame that there hasn't been a single word about the actual shuttle used there yet. I sencerely hope that the development in that field will continue. It's more that obvious that there is huge potential to make better synthetic shuttles that behave similar to feathered ones.
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Totally agree, most sports have managed to moved on from these kinds of products,

I'm very curious to see what this Yonex shuttle is all about, I'd also heard about this via some small print somewhere in the tournament details.

This is the first announcement publicly to my knowledge, I noticed Reuters have the story, so it may be picked up by the press more widely.

I shall watch developments with great interest.

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Judging by how they price the current synthetic shuttles, I don't expect this to be priced cheaper than medium grade feathers. Assuming they achieve a miracle and make a product that's 90% like a feather, they would need to price it drastically cheaper than Mavis's to get any sort of initial traction.
 
not sure I understand .... replacing a biodegradable material with plastic isn't really helping the environment ?! will there be a recycle program ?
 
Backhand_Dave said:
not sure I understand .... replacing a biodegradable material with plastic isn't really helping the environment ?! will there be a recycle program ?
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That.

Another dumb idea from BWF.

Feather shuttles can be made completely bio-degradable. feathers, cork, leather, strings, and even glue, can be bio-degradable.

I will be very interested to see what % of a synthetic shuttle is bio-degradable.
 
kwun said:
That.

Another dumb idea from BWF.

Feather shuttles can be made completely bio-degradable. feathers, cork, leather, strings, and even glue, can be bio-degradable.

I will be very interested to see what % of a synthetic shuttle is bio-degradable.
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I think a big part of the problem with plastic shuttles is that even if they can be recycled, the chances are that people will just throw them in regular bins anyway.

If you need to put them in a special bin I doubt many would end up in one.

I can't say I'm an expert in waste disposal though, and how current shuttles both plastic and feather impact the environment in any real way.

From a purely cost oriented perspective, the game would benefit from a durable synthetic that has very similar flight properties to a feather where they last much longer, but only time will tell exactly what impact this decision will have in the real world.

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Definitely interested to hearing/seeing what this Yonex shuttle is. If there's any company that can do it, it's Yonex with their deep pockets and huge marketing.
 
Too bad there is so little info about the shuttle and its properties. It's hard to judge from the available info it the newly developed shuttle by Yonex really is a step towards more sustainability.
 
It might be a step in the right direction if the synthetic material is derived from plant based sources.
We should see fewer geese flying in circles because their left wings are missing feathers.

Then a follow up article appears - https://www.nst.com.my/sports/badminton/2020/01/558619/synthetic-feather-shuttlecocks-raise-concerns

Some snippets
“Try changing a tennis ball to a synthetic or plastic ball, and see what people like Roger Federer have got to say,” Joanne quipped.
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And I thought tennis balls were already synthetic - rubber and nylon (with some wool and cotton).

Normally more than 24 traditional shuttlecocks are used in a single match during a tournament.

During the various tests, it was discovered that shuttlecock usage could be reduced by up to 25 per cent, providing a significant environmental and economic edge for badminton going forward.
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Up to 25% reduction? 24 feathers Vs 18+ synthetics. They don't sound very robust but if they are cheaper than normal shuttles the cost saving is plausible.
 
darrengsaw said:
I think a big part of the problem with plastic shuttles is that even if they can be recycled, the chances are that people will just throw them in regular bins anyway.

If you need to put them in a special bin I doubt many would end up in one.

I can't say I'm an expert in waste disposal though, and how current shuttles both plastic and feather impact the environment in any real way.

From a purely cost oriented perspective, the game would benefit from a durable synthetic that has very similar flight properties to a feather where they last much longer, but only time will tell exactly what impact this decision will have in the real world.

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You hit the nail right on the head. Recycling is selective, and they do not accept among other things plastic bag, so as the plastic shuttlecocks
just creating non degradable garbage..Where would end up ? Of course in Malaysia, many countries dump their garbage there, where the BWF headquarter is.
The secretary Thomas Lund has ro go before 2021, when he wants to introduce plastic shuttles in specific venues he is braindead.
 
Ouchie said:
Up to 25% reduction? 24 feathers Vs 18+ synthetics. They don't sound very robust but if they are cheaper than normal shuttles the cost saving is plausible.
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I thought that at first too.
But how often are shuttles changed in professional matches unrelated to actual damage (tactical reasons)?
If the shuttle proofs to be more durable, players need to change their behavior or the umpires must be more strict and deny changing the shuttle more.
Or maybe they need to reuse/refresh shuttles but that won't be profitable.
 
It probably has a lot to do with lowering the price point of shuttlecocks as well. One of the biggest barrier to entry is badminton's high cost to play, with shuttlecocks being the biggest culprit. With good quality feathers, there's very little room to cut costs - there are a lot of manual labor and testing that's required, since natural feather is brittle and random in quality. Synthetics, on the other hand, technically can be made and tested mostly by machines, which means economies of scale can kick in to lower the price of shuttlecocks in the long run. This, of course, is more in the interest of BWF, which I am assuming is a big proponent of this change, and possibly one of the catalysts for this movement.
 
Hey guys. Interesting post. I think some people have caught on to the slightly wrong idea that replacing feather shuttle cocks is being more environmentally friendly, it is not. But we cannot keep using geese or duck feathers also. With regards to biodegradable, well, they knight be, but fairly doubtful.

More to the point, does anyone know any suppliers of the new synthetic ones?

I know a lot of British clubs will be excited to know that gradually feathers will decrease in price in the next couple of years!
 
It seems that various Yonex prototypes have been tested and approved.

There doesn't seem to be any actual product news anywhere about these shuttles.

They must be something greater than a development of the tired old Mavis line, but until we get some news who knows.

Interesting that they only expect a 25% numerical saving, it sounds as though they may not be ultra durable, but more so than feathers.

Most of the stories in the Asian online press seem somewhat negative from those that claim to have tried them, sounds a bit of an open book at the moment.



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superdan12 said:
It probably has a lot to do with lowering the price point of shuttlecocks as well. One of the biggest barrier to entry is badminton's high cost to play, with shuttlecocks being the biggest culprit. With good quality feathers, there's very little room to cut costs - there are a lot of manual labor and testing that's required, since natural feather is brittle and random in quality. Synthetics, on the other hand, technically can be made and tested mostly by machines, which means economies of scale can kick in to lower the price of shuttlecocks in the long run. This, of course, is more in the interest of BWF, which I am assuming is a big proponent of this change, and possibly one of the catalysts for this movement.
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Think of that, 6 Mavis 300 shuttlecocks (mediocre quality product) cost over $10, reemphasize 6 not 12, how would a professional grade plastic cost less than feather made?
What will happen, is that the plastic birdies will cost more than feathers,creating more plastic garbage, instead of biodegradable natural ones.
The emphasis should be on staying natural, than rediscover 20-30 years later again that plastic is harmful, and penalize the consumer by selling feather birdies, as "ORGANIC" FOR unreasonable amount of money like your organic dearies, and produce.
 
fact is, the cost of plastic is way lower than feathers. Those mavic shuttle probably cost $.10 cents to produce.

Feathers on the other hand, is much more expensive as the demand is high and the supply is limited.

I can imagine lots of commercial pressure from large badminton sponsors to push for higher profit margin products.
 
124windsor said:
Think of that, 6 Mavis 300 shuttlecocks (mediocre quality product) cost over $10, reemphasize 6 not 12, how would a professional grade plastic cost less than feather made?
What will happen, is that the plastic birdies will cost more than feathers,creating more plastic garbage, instead of biodegradable natural ones.
The emphasis should be on staying natural, than rediscover 20-30 years later again that plastic is harmful, and penalize the consumer by selling feather birdies, as "ORGANIC" FOR unreasonable amount of money like your organic dearies, and produce.
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That doesn't say much about the cost to produce, they price it high, but for all we know they could be extremely cheap to make and they just make a ridiculous margin off of them. If they were to drag the price down when those pro grade plastics hit the market, they'd be looking for profits in the long run, because in the short term, I don't see what incentive yonex has at all in selling these cheap.
 
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