How badminton is moving towards sustainability with new shuttle trials at junior tournaments

India, China and Indonesia are among the most populous countries in the world. These are also the three countries with a massive fan base for badminton. While China and Indonesia are badminton giants, India is also a rapidly growing nation in terms of the sport.

This immense popularity in highly populous countries, coupled with a shortage of duck and goose feathers, created a big problem for badminton. One of the basic components of the game, the shuttlecock, was getting harder to find.

Before the issue got out of hand, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) stepped in with a solution: a sustainable shuttlecock.

What is the problem with animal shuttlecocks?

Shuttlecocks are made up of duck and goose feathers. China is the leading manufacturer of shuttlecocks in the world. The country was hit by outbreaks of bird flu in the last few years and the popularity of pork over duck and goose meat has led to fewer ducks and geese being reared for meat, which means fewer feathers available for making shuttlecocks.

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So, the production of shuttlecocks could not keep up with the ever increasing demand and that sent the prices up. Prices of some shuttles have reportedly doubled due to the crisis.

“The dependency on goose feathers, which we have, is a problem we need to address as a sport. The growth of the sport across three populous nations, India, China and Indonesia, has ensured that there is demand for raw material of goose feathers, which has gone up a lot. We need to find alternatives for it,” Indian legend Pullela Gopichand had said on the issue.

BWF's sustainable solution

Amid calls to find alternatives to goose feathers, BWF looked towards synthetic shuttlecocks. Last year, BWF acknowledged the problem and said that they were testing sustainable solutions for the crisis.

"Our testing and trialling programmes for the production and introduction of competition and social-use synthetic shuttlecocks in collaboration with the manufacturers remains in place and is firmly part of our sustainability strategies for the future," BWF secretary general Thomas Lund had said.

On Wednesday, BWF approved the use of synthetic shuttlecocks from VICTOR and YONEX at BWF Grade 3 tournaments and Junior International tournaments. As per BWF, "the trial will include the collection of manufacturer performance data, alongside feedback from players, technical officials, and event organisers."

The global badminton body has said that this trial will "inform future decisions regarding the potential use of synthetic shuttlecocks at top‑tier tournaments."

If the trials are successful, then it will solve a two-fold problem for badminton. It will help bring the costs down and, at the same time, move the game towards being more sustainable with reduced dependence on animals. Rearing fewer poultry would be more eco-friendly and would help badminton achieve long-term sustainability.