If eco-friendliness is important to you, you should avoid mats made of PVC (the traditional sticky yoga mat), which does not break down in landfills and is difficult and costly to recycle and instead opt for one of the newer eco-friendly yoga mats.
The vast majority of yoga mats available today in the US are made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride), a very environmentally unfriendly product, being extremely polluting to manufacture and dispose of, PVC has also been linked with being carcinogenic. PVC is also not biodegradable and and remains on the shelf, in the environment, or in the landfill – when it is burned in a landfill it releases dioxin, hydrochloric acid, and other toxins. It is almost impossible to recycle, which is why so little of it is recaptured.
Though it’s been largely banned in Europe and by some progressive companies such as IKEA, PVC is still the most widely used material for yoga mats in the US. If PVC is so toxic, then why is it still being used in consumer products such as yoga mats? Well, the short answer is because it’s cheap.
Eco-friendly yoga mats (or eco yoga mats) are typically made from natural materials, such as rubber, jute or organic cotton. Rubber, jute and cotton mats, are available in a range of thicknesses and tend to be a little thicker and slicker than PVC mats. You will have no problem finding an eco yoga mat that has the thickness that meets your needs for comfort and portability and a texture (such as a raised geometric pattern) that prevents slippage.
The original Eco Yoga Mat was composed exclusively of natural rubber together with jute fiber. There were no artificial additives used to make these mats, distinguishing them form many other rubber yoga mats available. Its rubber underside grips the floor well and the jute fabric/rubber mix on the top offers superb traction – even in a heavy sweat. It has a highly durable, tactile, and pleasantly natural surface making it an ideal mat for practising your yoga. The mat combines a cloth surface and sticky mat in one bringing to mind the feeling of walking barefoot on the earth. The mat is biodegradable, but as with all rubber products it does contain some latex.
Yet another advancement on eco-friendly yoga mats can be found in the popular Revolution Yoga Mat, which uses Natural Rubber as a base layer, due to it’s strong, resilient nature and the fact that it does not contain plasticizers or VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) making it the eco- friendly choice for this application. The other vital performance element is the scrim – a thin sheet of light-weight, woven cotton. When the cotton scrim is applied within the rubber layers, it limits stretching and provides a strong, stable practice surface. Vulcanization is used (instead of toxic glues) to bond the materials together, and the implementation of a dual scrim stabilizes the mat and limits surface stretch.The dual scrim also promotes the surface integrity by helping the mat to lay flat and eliminate bunching as you shift your weight during poses.
If you have latex and other chemical sensitivities and allergies then please be aware that rubber yoga mats do contain latex. If you do have such sensitivities or allergies then one possible alternative is a yoga mat made from TPE foam (thermoplastic elastomer), a newly developed and patented material that is resilient, non-slip, and incredibly lightweight. Although not made from natural materials, TPE yoga mats are biodegradable and therefore still classified as eco-friendly yoga mats.