Can we save the world with darts?

My problem with darts

When I discovered darts for myself a few years ago and soon trained intensively (at least one hour a day) and slowly got better, my wear and tear on flights and shafts also increased significantly.

Inexpensive flights, made of paper or nylon, fray very quickly and the shafts break or splinter when, for example, a Robin Hood is thrown.

After a short time, I had a veritable mountain of damaged material. Then there are the many bags and outer packaging made of plastic in which the material is sold. To avoid the garbage, I looked for alternatives and came across the L-Style system . A flight shaft system (for 3 arrows) costs between €11 and €25 – depending on whether the shaft is plastic or carbon. But with the significantly longer durability, the investment is always worth it. The carbon shafts can often even be played for several years.

While the cheap flights only last a few days and a lot of rubbish and packaging accumulates as a result, the L-style flights last at least an average of at least 100% for intensive, daily play. one month. So I don’t need as many of them and the packaging is reduced.

Ok – problem mitigated a bit! But…

But since I’m now selling the things myself, I got a shock from the masses of plastic waste and packaging material that are piling up there.

What to do to save the world with darts?

After a long research I came across the material grass paper for packaging. It should be completely degradable or even recyclable. Significantly less water and energy should also be used during production and the emission of harmful CO₂ is much lower.

So I ordered samples to find out which paper is suitable and in which thickness. After some experiments, I had a plan: the packaging should be made individually for the products, and no glue should be used. The boxes are put together. This is how we designed our own boxes.

I then found suppliers who made custom-made grass paper packaging for us. The stickers for the products are now also made from grass paper. As far as possible, we now use shipping cartons made of the sustainable material.

Although the L-style flights have a longer shelf life, they always come in a larger plastic outer packaging. This is to ensure that the flights are protected during transport and do not lose their shape.

So there is a lot of plastic waste.

I’ve been thinking and looking for a solution on how to pack the flights in an environmentally friendly way while still being able to store them stably and present them in an attractive way.

With my 3D printer, I produced a wide variety of shapes and designs from the material PLA* and tested them with the L-Style Flights until I finally figured out the optimal design for production.

*(PLA consists of renewable raw materials and is biodegradable)

I approached the producers of the L-Style products in Japan (boldly!) with my designs. After a few discussions and further joint optimizations, they were ready to produce my invention. They even agreed that we could sell the products in the special “VISIONARYPACK” exclusively in our VISIONARYDARTS shop .

Another step further! So can we save the world with darts?

We can only make a tiny contribution. But if the consciousness of many who participate is awakened, then maybe it can still work out to save the earth! And our dart sport can bring us joy for a long time to come.

Incidentally, service packaging (folding boxes, labels, displays, brochures) is now also being made from grass paper.

If you want to know exactly: WHAT IS GRASS FIBER PAPER ?

The advantages over wood-based paper

• Massive energy savings n
  the production of grass paper requires less than 150 kilowatt hours per ton of hay. The energy consumption per ton of pulp for wood-based paper is around 2,300 kilowatt hours. So about 93% of the energy is saved
• Almost no water consumption :
  Only two liters are needed per tonne of grass paper, while the same amount of paper made from cellulose, i.e. wood, uses 6,000 liters of water.
• Very low CO₂ emissions:
  The emissions are mainly caused by the transport routes of the raw materials. The production of grass fibers produces around 75 percent less climate-damaging CO₂ than conventional paper, as the transport routes are very short. The grass comes from compensation areas in the Swabian Jura, not far from the paper mill.
  
  In Germany, around 80 percent of the wood and pulp required for conventional paper production is imported. The pulp comes, among other things, from eucalyptus, which is primarily native to regions near the equator. The main importing countries for pulp are Brazil, Finland, Sweden, Portugal, Chile, Uruguay and Spain.
  The pulp used for paper production in Germany thus travels
  up to 9,000 kilometers, on average 4,000 kilometers.
  
  Around four million trees are felled every year just to meet the German paper requirements. If only 25 percent of the German paper requirement were to be produced with fast-growing annual plants such as grass instead of wood, one million trees would be preserved every year.

• Extrapolated to the world market, this would have a significantly positive impact on CO₂ emissions and thus a measurable impact on the global climate .
• No chemistry :
  The processing of the grass does not require any chemical substances that are required to produce pulp from wood.
• Environmentally friendly: grass paper can be composted, it is 100% recyclable