“Think global, act local.”

I’ve heard this phrase for a long time but didn’t really give it much thought.

What exactly does it mean to be a good global citizen? Well, part of it means reducing your carbon footprint.

But those are just words. I wanted a “real-world” example of that. And I got one thanks to [Re] Waste and Golf Town’s [Re] Grip initiative.

Golf Town recently partnered with the Edmonton-based company – whose mission is to collect, process and reuse plastic from clients and turn it into sustainable products.

“Golf Town was looking for a solution to divert materials from landfills for a long time, and as a business, we help companies divert material from landfills and transform it into recycled products that they can use in their business, or we can create products which they can sell through their distribution channels. – Cory Saban, Founder & CEO [Re] Waste

Saban started [Re] Waste during the pandemic after being laid off from the construction industry. He’s gone from making drink coasters out of single-use plastic bags in his garage to overseeing a facility that diverts tons of material from landfills. It’s a small operation with only a handful of employees, but each is passionate about doing their bit for Mother Nature. And you can help, too.

“Customers will go to Golf Town to get their clubs regripped. From there, the grips will go into a collection box. That box is shipped to [Re]Waste. We’ll receive it, weigh it, and do data analytics, and we’ll process that material by shredding it. That shredded material is a crumb and that becomes feedstock for the products that we manufacture. We’ll create rubber mats, rubber flooring, different furniture pieces that can be used in the stores that we work with so that they’re able to show customers how these materials have been transformed.

– Cory Saban, Founder & CEO [Re] Waste

This year, Golf Town associates will change close to a million grips for our customers. Instead of heading to a landfill, these grips are now collected by [Re] Waste and given new life. And that’s good news for the environment.

“We’re expecting about 900,000 golf grips to be collected through this program, which is equivalent to 90,000 pounds. And that means that we’ll be able to sequester about 250,000 kilograms of carbon, and that’s equivalent to removing about 55 cars from the road.”

So, getting your grips changed at Golf Town will not only help you play better, but you’ll also make a birdie on your environmental scorecard.

And that’s easy to come to grips with. – Hugh Burrill, Golf Town Ambassador