If you’ve ever held a martial arts medal—proudly polished, etched with a tiger or a kata move, weighted just right to feel like a reward for months of early-morning drills and sore muscles—you might not think much about how it was made. As a third-generation martial arts medal supplier, I’ve spent 12 years in this business, and I’ll admit: my focus for the first decade was almost entirely on design, durability, and that perfect heft that tells a competitor their work matters. It wasn’t until three years ago, when a taekwondo dojang owner in Portland emailed me asking about the “carbon footprint of my medals” for his club’s green initiative, that I realized how many environmental considerations were hiding in every step of our production. Today, as more martial arts organizations, schools, and individual tournament directors are prioritizing sustainability, these considerations aren’t just a “nice-to-have”—they’re a core part of what we as medal suppliers need to address for both the industry and the planet. Martial Arts Medals
Let’s start with the raw materials, because that’s where the biggest environmental footprints begin. For decades, standard martial arts medals were made from cheap, single-layer zinc alloy—alloyed with small amounts of lead and cadmium to keep costs low, but those metals are toxic to mine and refine. Lead mining, for example, generates over 3 million tons of toxic waste annually, according to the World Health Organization, and that waste often leaches into soil and groundwater, endangering communities near mines. Cadmium, meanwhile, is a known carcinogen, and its refining process releases greenhouse gases that contribute to acid rain. For years, that’s what we used—until I started looking for alternatives after that Portland dojang’s email. Now, most of our core medals are made from recycled zinc alloy. But here’s the thing: not all recycled zinc is equal. We source ours from post-consumer auto parts and broken industrial hardware, not post-industrial scrap from other manufacturers’ off-cuts, because post-consumer recycling cuts the carbon footprint of raw material production by 75% compared to virgin mining, per data from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. We also offer a line of solid bronze medals, made from 100% recycled bronze, for tournaments that want a higher-end, more sustainable option—bronze has a lower carbon footprint than stainless steel, and it’s 100% recyclable infinitely, no loss in quality.
But raw materials are only half the battle. The plating process, which gives medals their iconic gold, silver, and bronze finishes, is another huge environmental blind spot for many suppliers. Traditional gold plating uses a chemical called cyanide, a highly toxic substance that’s deadly if ingested and can cause long-term harm to aquatic life if not disposed of properly. When I first switched away from cyanide in 2021, I thought the only alternative was more expensive gold vermeil, but we found a non-toxic nickel-free gold plating solution that’s certified by the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, the EU’s strict standard for electronics and manufacturing chemicals. That plating process uses 90% less water than cyanide-based plating, and it doesn’t produce toxic sludge that needs special disposal. We do still use silver and nickel plating, but both are also RoHS-compliant, and we work with a local plating facility that recycles 98% of its process water—they filter and reuse it, rather than sending it to a municipal treatment plant where it can pick up heavy metals. I learned this the hard way when a local environmental inspector paid a surprise visit to our plating partner two years ago; they were discharging trace amounts of silver into a nearby stream, and we had to work with them to install a closed-loop filtration system. That experience taught me that sustainability in medal production isn’t just about our own factory—it’s about vetting every single partner along the supply chain, from miners to platers to shippers.
Next up: the energy that powers every step of production. From melting metal ingots in our foundry to running the plating lines and cutting and etching designs, manufacturing metal goods is energy-intensive. A 2022 study from the U.S. Energy Information Administration found that metal manufacturing accounts for 8% of total global carbon emissions, mostly from fossil fuel use. For the first 10 years of my business, our foundry ran on coal-fired furnaces, which are cheap but emit massive amounts of CO2. When we invested in a new electric foundry in 2020, we paired it with solar panels on our warehouse roof—enough to power 60% of our daily operations. We also switched to LED lighting in all our production spaces, replaced all our old machinery with energy-efficient models, and implemented a “power-down” policy where all non-essential equipment is turned off at the end of the shift. We track our carbon emissions every quarter, and since 2020, we’ve cut our factory emissions by 52%—that’s progress, but it’s not enough. Last year, we started buying renewable energy credits (RECs) to offset the remaining emissions, and we’re planning to add a battery storage system this year to store excess solar power for nights and cloudy days.
Waste is another often-overlooked environmental consideration in martial arts medal production. When you’re stamping metal blanks and cutting custom designs, there’s almost always scrap metal left over. Most suppliers send that scrap to a recycling center, but we used to send a lot of it to landfills for small bits that were too small to process—until I realized that even 1 ounce of zinc scrap adds up when you’re producing 50,000 medals a year. Now, we have a policy of saving every single scrap piece, even the 1-2 ounce bits left from custom medal engravings. We melt that down monthly in our foundry and reuse it for small batch orders or prototype medals. We’ve also eliminated all single-use plastics from our packaging—for years, we used plastic bubble wrap and plastic sleeves for medals, but now we use 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard and compostable corn-based plastic sleeves that break down in 180 days in commercial compost. We even worked with a local print shop to print all our custom boxes and certificates on soy-based inks, which produce 70% less volatile organic compounds (VOCs) than petroleum-based inks.
But here’s the part that’s not just about our operations: the end-of-life of a martial arts medal. How many times have you seen a medal from a tournament three years ago tossed in a junk drawer, or left on a shelf collecting dust? Most medals are made of metal that can be recycled, but many have non-recyclable plating or attached ribbons and hardware. That means when someone throws a medal away, it often ends up in a landfill, where the metal will take centuries to break down, and the plating chemicals can leach into soil. A few years ago, we launched a “Recycle Your Medals” program, where any martial arts school or tournament can send us old, unused medals, and we’ll melt them down and reuse the metal for new medals—for free. It’s a small program, but in the last two years, we’ve recycled over 12,000 pounds of old medals, keeping that metal out of landfills. We also started offering “upcycled medals” for small events: for example, if a tournament has leftover medals from a previous year, we can re-engrave them with the new event’s date, rather than making new ones from scratch. That cuts production waste by 80% for custom re-orders, and it’s become really popular with small community tournaments that have tight budgets and want to reduce their environmental impact.
Of course, there are still challenges—big ones. For example, sourcing 100% recycled bronze is harder than we thought it would be. Most recycled bronze comes from old statues and industrial parts, and the supply is inconsistent, so we can’t always meet custom orders for solid bronze medals. We’re working with a metals supplier in Canada to build a more consistent local supply chain for recycled bronze, which would also cut down on shipping emissions from importing bronze from overseas. Another challenge is the environmental impact of the ribbons that come with medals. Most ribbons are made from polyester, a plastic that’s not recyclable in standard curbside programs and takes over 200 years to decompose. We now offer compostable cotton ribbons for all our medals, made from organically grown cotton that doesn’t use synthetic pesticides, but they’re 30% more expensive than polyester. That’s a barrier for small tournaments with tight budgets, so we’re working with a textile manufacturer to develop a recycled polyester ribbon that’s recyclable in curbside programs, and we’re hoping to launch it later this year.
What’s most exciting, though, is that the martial arts community is actually demanding this sustainability. Last year, the U.S. Judo Federation announced that all its national tournaments would only use medals certified as carbon-neutral, and over 200 local dojangs across the country have asked our team for sustainable medal options in the last six months alone. It’s not just about being “green”—it’s about aligning with the values of martial arts, which emphasize respect for others and respect for the world around you. A medal is a symbol of hard work and dedication, right? It makes sense that the object representing that effort should also respect the planet where we all live.
I’ll be honest: three years ago, I didn’t know half the things I now understand about the environmental impact of medal production. I was focused on growing my business, delivering high-quality medals on time, and keeping prices fair. But that email from the Portland dojang owner changed everything. It taught me that being a good supplier isn’t just about the product—it’s about taking responsibility for every step of that product’s journey, from the mine that gets the raw metal to the landfill where it might (or might not) end up.
If you’re a tournament director, dojang owner, or event planner looking for martial arts medals that balance quality, meaning, and sustainability, we’d love to talk. We can walk you through all our options—from recycled zinc medals for large events to solid bronze custom medals for elite tournaments, all with transparent details on our environmental practices. We can also help you design a medal program that aligns with your organization’s sustainability goals, whether that’s carbon neutrality, zero waste, or using only certified sustainable materials. Every medal we make is more than just a piece of metal—it’s a tribute to the athlete who earned it, and it deserves to honor both their hard work and the planet we all share.
Triathlon Medals References
- World Health Organization. (2021). Global Burden of Disease from Lead Exposure.
- Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. (2022). Life Cycle Analysis of Recycled vs. Virgin Metal Production.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2022). Carbon Emissions from Global Manufacturing Industries.
- Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive 2011/65/EU. European Commission.
- 2023 Study on Textile Fiber Decomposition Rates. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- 2022 Report on Recycling of Metal Products in Landfills. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Global Art Gifts Co., Ltd.
Global Art Gifts Co., Ltd. is one of the most professional martial arts medals manufacturers and suppliers in China. We are committed to providing high quality customized products with competitive price. Welcome to buy bulk durable martial arts medals in stock here from our factory. Also, pricelist is available.
Address: Hushan Tech Park, Shiwan, 516127 Huizhou China
E-mail: nicole@globalartgifts.com
WebSite: https://www.globalartgift.com/
