Recycling Neoprene Wetsuits: Wetsuit Recycling Near You [2023 Update]

NOTE: As of the beginning of 2023, Amigos Marinos and Surfrider Foundation aren’t currently accepting wetsuit donations. Surfrider Foundation will restart collection in Spring 2023. Amigos Marinos is on an indefinite pause, but they will accept some gear for donation; contact them for more info on what they can accept. 

Wetsuit Recycling Program Details

Suga

Suga makes yoga mats from recycled wetsuits and they’re ready and willing to take your old wetsuits. 

They have several locations where you can drop off your wetsuits in California in Cardiff, San Diego, Torrance, San Francisco, and Mill Valley. They also accept drop offs in Williamsport, Maryland and various locations in British Columbia (Canada). 

You can also ship your old wetsuits to Suga in Encinitas, California. For more details, check out their website’s wetsuit recycling page.

Kassia Surf

In partnership with Suga, Kassia Surf, which is located in Marina del Rey, uses old, donated wetsuits and neoprene scraps from their cutting room floor to create recycled yoga mats. You can donate wetsuits in exchange for 10 to 20% off your next Kassia Surf purchase, depending on how many suits you donate.  

Download their form, box up your wetsuit, and send the box to the address on their form. 

Wetsuit Wearhouse

Wetsuit Wearhouse also partners with Suga and accepts old wetsuit donations on behalf of Suga. 

You can bring your old wetsuit into a Wetsuit Wearhouse, or send it, and they’ll forward it onto Suga. And in exchange for your donation, Wetsuit Wearhouse will give you 10% off your next purchase.

As of this writing, Wetsuit Wearhouse is only accepting one recycled suit per customer for donation since they’re responsible for the cost of shipping. If you live in Maryland, you come out ahead bringing or shipping the wetsuit to Wetsuit Wearhouse compared to shipping to Suga, which is in Encinitas, California.

For more information on the Wetsuit Wearhouse program, head over to their blog post on the topic. 

Rip Curl

In partnership with TerraCycle, Rip Curl has a wetsuit recycling program in Australia, USA, France, Portugal and Spain. You can drop off your old wetsuit for recycling at your nearest participating Rip Curl store, or ship it into Rip Curl. 

For a list of participating stores in the U.S., Australia, France, Portugal, and the UK, scroll down on this page. You can expect to find these stores in many surfing hotspots like San Clemente, Sydney, Cornwall, Los Angeles, Peniche, and many many more. 

To mail it in, head to the Rip Curl website and fill out the form on this page to generate a free return form. 

O’Neill

Buried down low on their O’Neill Blue page, O’Neill says this about their wetsuit recycling program: Our wetsuit recycling program lets you drop your old O’Neill wetsuits back to select stores to be recycled rather than tossed into landfill.

If you have an O’Neill store near you, give them a call to see if they’ll accept your used suit. There’s no information on the web as of this writing about which stores accept suits. Though I do know that the O’Neill Store in Santa Cruz accepts old wetsuits for recycling and will give you a discount in exchange.

Green Guru

Green Guru upcycles bicycle inner tubes, climbing ropes, wetsuits, event tents and more to create outdoor gear. Their line of products includes fanny packs, backpacks, big bags, bottle holders, travel kits, and more. You can send your old wetsuits to Green Guru Upcycling in Boulder, Colorado or find a partner retailer near you where you can find Green Guru’s upcycling bins. 

Check out their program page for more details. And note that they ask you to send pictures to recycling@greengurugear.com to check if your wetsuit can be used prior to sending it in.

In return for sending still useful materials to, you can receive a discount code for Green Guru gear but they don’t specify how much. Learn more here: Upcycle Your Bike Tubes & Old Gear with Green Guru.

Lava Rubber

Lava Rubber upcycles wetsuits, neoprene sheets, gaskets, weather stripping, juice pouches, energy bar wrappers, yoga pants and other usable scraps. The products they create include slippers, surf and yoga mats, and coasters. 

Read more about their upcycling program here.

Amigos Marinos

With support from Patagonia and FCD Surfboards, Amigos Marinos brings wetsuits to dive fishermen in Baja working to restock their historic fishing grounds and protect it from poachers. Since the Baja Peninsula is sparsely populated, the wetsuit supply is low and prices are high, so divers often wear worn out, torn, patched wetsuits. 

Amigos Marinos usually accepts donations of wetsuits, hoods, booties, gloves, snorkel gear, weights, weight belts, fins, SCUBA diving gear, free diving gear, fishing gear, and accessories. But according to their website they’re not currently accepting wetsuits. You can contact them to donate other gear though.

You can drop your donations off at FCD in Ventura or send them directly to Amigos Marinos. You can find the address and more information about the programs on AmigosMarinos.org.

Amp Surf

AmpSurf offers a unique program to bring the healing power of the ocean and adaptive surfing together for an experience that is both mentally and physically one of the best forms of rehabilitation on the planet. Their goal is to help disabled veterans, adults and children focus on their abilities, not their disabilities. 

They accept wetsuit donations, booties, helmets, soft-top surfboards, and gloves. You can mail your donations to the address on their website. 

Need Essentials

On their website, Need Essentials says they recycle wetsuits at the end of their natural life. 

They donate it to be recycled into rubber floor matting, the kind used in children’s play areas, gym floors and exercise mats. 

Since there’s not a lot of info on their site, I verified by emailing them and they said you can drop off any brand of wetsuit at their Santa Barbara location. The address is 103 Los Aguajes Avenue, Santa Barbara and it’s open Tuesday through Friday from 11am to 4pm.

Reborn Rubber

According to Reborn Rubber’s wetsuit: 

“If your wetsuit is headed for the trash we can give it a second life. Neoprene is a petroleum based rubber that stretches, bends, and returns to its original shape making it great for making slim wallets. Donate your wetsuit and we’ll send you a free wallet.”

The problem is the link to donate is broken and they didn’t respond when I reached out for info. But if you’re looking for wetsuit recycling in Florida, it’s worth a shot to use their contact page.

Alpkit/Dirtbags Climbing

You can send your damaged wetsuits into Alpkit as part of the Continuum Project, an initiative dedicated to keeping gear out of landfills. Alpkit will then pass your old wetsuit on to their partner, Dirtbags Climbing, who will use the old neoprene to create laptop bags, changing mats, and more. 

To learn more about sending your wetsuit into Alpkit, head on over to the bottom of their dedicated page. 

Barefoot Tech

Barefoot Tech accepts all donations of water sports materials, which includes wetsuits. According to their website, you can contact them and they’ll arrange a courier service. But when I emailed them, they said this:

“To donate wetsuits most people send us their donations via post and in return we offer a discount code for our website. For this process we kindly ask people to send their unwanted wetsuits and materials the cheapest form possible and by any ethical way (re-using packaging/parcel boxes/plastic bags) whatever’s easiest for you.”

The address they gave me was: Unit 6, 8 St. Katherines Ct, Winch Wen, Swansea SA1 7ER, UK. Here’s more about their program.

Circle One

Circle One has a partnership with Barefoot Tech so if you’re closer to Crediton than Swansea, you can drop your old wetsuit off at Circle One’s factory in Crediton. You just need to include a note in your package that indicates you want to recycle your wetsuit. 

For more information, check their blog post on the topic.

Lets Go Surfing

Let’s Go Surfing, which runs surf camps in NSW, Australia, works with Tyre Crumb in Victoria to recycle your wetsuits for use as sports grounds, matting, flooring, and more. You can drop off your dry, clean wetsuits at any one of their locations in Bondi, Maroubra, or Byron. 

You can learn more about their program here.

Mr. Stitch

Mr. Stitch is a guy you can find on Instagram at Mr.Stitch_Bags or by email at mr_stitch@yahoo.de. You can send him your wetsuit and have him build a customer bag from its materials for you. 

He talks a bit about his business in this article and you can read more about him and his approach on his website: www.mrstitchbags.de.

Upparel and Project Blank

Upparel and Project Blank have partnered to offer a recycling program for wetsuits and old clothing. You can book a courier service through Project Blank for your wetsuits and 10 kg of old clothing to send to Upparel for $25 and you get $25 store credit to spend on the Upparel website. 

Read more about the program on Upparel’s site: upparel.com.au/project-blank/. 

Also, Project Blank has another partnership with Into Carry, which is a company that upcycles your old wetsuits into something you can use in the long run. And you can read more about that here: https://projectblank.com.au/pages/into-carry.

Patagonia and Rerip

You might find other sites online that tell you Patagonia accepts old wetsuits—unfortunately not all Patagonia stores do. From their website’s FAQs:

Can I trade in any type of Patagonia product?

Almost, but not everything. No swimwear, underwear, bras, PBL (Capilene and merino), embroidered items, shoes, wading boots, T-shirts, accessories (hats, scarves, beanies, gloves, socks), waders, wetsuits, sleeping bags or Factory Seconds will be accepted.

The confusion might be because of their partnership with Rerip. Through Rerip, Patagonia’s Cardiff location accepts old wetsuits for recycling. Rerip also accepts wetsuit donations at the locations listed on their website. 

When I contacted Rerip, they said they accept wetsuits that they either send to Suga for recycling or repair and use for their program. 

Warm Current

Warm Current is an organization dedicated to making surfing more accessible and more fun for native youth on the Washington Coast. They host community surf camps in partnership with the Makah Indian Nation, Quileute Nation, Hoh Indian Tribe, and the Quinault Indian Nation. 

If you have a wetsuit to donate, you can email them at info@warmcurrent.org for more information. 

Surfrider Foundation (Pacific Rim)  

The Surfrider Foundation’s mission is to protect and enjoy the world’s ocean, waves, and beaches for all people. They have a bunch of programs such as beach cleanups, plastic reduction campaigns, youth environmental education, and more. 

Unfortunately, their wetsuit reincarnation program paused collection for 2022, but they’re starting back up in spring 2023. So if you’re reading this, and it’s past 2023, you should be able to head over to their website and get the info you need to donate your wetsuit. 

The Upcycle Movement

The Upcycle Movement was founded in 2012 to “Promote and inspire the rethinking of what we consider as waste – recognising this as a positive way to keep items out of landfill and contribute to a circular economy.”

The Neo Collection was The Upcycle Movement’s debut line but they’ve since expanded to accept all kinds of textiles. If you have an old wetsuit you have no use for in Ireland, contact The Upcycle Movement to see how you can donate.

Wetsuit Recycling & Disposal: Frequently Asked Questions