Shooting For Sustainability: 4 Innovative Ideas from IWA 2025

“PLA bioplastics are biodegradable, but they require a high temperature to degrade effectively,” he explains. “Most airsoft BBs typically need a temperature of between 58 and 60C to decompose within a reasonable time frame, which is really only possible in an industrial composting facility. This means that hundreds of tons of PLA BBs are left behind on airsoft fields each year.”

This fact shocked Sakari back in 2018 when he was studying biocomposites at university. He decided to try and make a change to the sport that he loved and founded Terra BB. It took him and the company some time to perfect what they were trying to achieve, but on the show floor at IWA 2025, they were able to showcase their third-generation airsoft BB that decomposes under natural conditions, while still maintaining high performance.

“Unlike PLA-based bioBBs, which require industrial composting to break down, this third generation does it safely in nature,” he says. “In summer conditions, when you have heat, water, and microbes present, they begin to break down in just a matter of months. Once fully decomposed, they leave only water, carbon dioxide, and minerals behind, ensuring a minimal impact on the environment.”

This is a huge improvement on the status quo and judging by the mindset of Sakari and his team, this will not be the last stage of the evolution towards making airsoft less of a pollutant on the environment.

Greener Guns on Pegs

Another area of shooting that has an overreliance on plastics that take a long time to break down is shotguns. Specifically, shotgun wads. According to Spanish injection solutions company Nurel, about three billion shotgun wads are produced globally per year and are traditionally largely made from non-biodegradable plastics (LDPE). Of course, many shooting grounds and estates do excellent jobs cleaning up and correctly disposing of used wads, but the fact remains that these could be considered single-use plastics, which are increasingly coming under political pressure on a global scale. Thankfully, Nurel has a solution to its stated problem.

“We have created a brand called Novizon, which produces wads that are 100 per cent biodegradable in soil in less than two years,” explains Nurel’s Marketing Manager Leyre Quibus. “We have been producing biopolymers for many different applications for around 12 years and we have identified that the shooting industry has a need for our expertise. 

“There have been many people out there trying to find a solution to this problem, but we have not found someone who has developed it. So, we decided to create a new division of our company last year to tackle the issue.”

Novizon’s wads are soil biodegradability tested according to ISO-17556 standard and feature a patented composition, formula, and design. They have also been carefully designed so that they still perform how shooters expect – the stability, load, and handling are all very similar to conventional plastics and Novizon even makes different models for either lead or steel shot. It took Nurel around six months to develop the product, but it is now patented and ready to bring a solution to the market that is less impactful on the environment.

“We can customise the wad for any customer, and they deliver excellent ballistic performance and provide a smooth and enjoyable shooting experience, which was a challenge, but one that our company enjoyed making into a reality,” Leyre Quibus adds.

Primed for a Greener World

When you start looking at things more closely, you realise there are many ways in which we can create products that are kinder to the environment – even the smallest of items. Primers are a great example, as was shown by Sonic Ballisticsat IWA in 2025.

“We are here to present our lead-free primers to the industry,” explains the company’s Sales Director Björn Eilers. “Despite being a relatively new brand, our company has more than 50 years of experience and expertise in the hunting and military industries. This project has been underway for about four years, but we are now up and running with production. We don’t want to compromise the health of shooters, so our primers are available as entirely lead-free options. We also produce lead-free shotgun ammunition and lead-free rifle bullets.”  

You don’t need Björn to tell you that the use of lead in shooting products is a very hot topic, so it’s good to know that Sonic produces lead-free primers for small rifles, large pistols, and large rifles, all while maintaining a high level of quality that meets the needs of both professional and recreational shooters.

Targeting an Eco-Friendly World

Once you start thinking more deeply about how the products used in shooting are made and what they’re made of, you’d be surprised by what small changes companies within the industry can make to help make our sports less impactful on the environment.

Take clays, for example. It probably doesn’t cross many people’s minds about the potential environmental impact of thousands of broken clays being scattered across the ground. Of course, in many instances, this happens at shooting grounds where clean-up operations are part of daily life, but wouldn’t it be great if the clays were made from a material that is kinder to the environment?

Italian company Eurotarget has come up with a solution for this with its Pino clays. Made from 100 per cent natural pine resin, these clays have been gaining a fast-growing demand from shooters and shooting grounds around Europe.

As always, the challenge with changing traditional manufacturing materials into more eco-friendly options is ensuring the product still behaves in the expected way. Eurotarget has addressed this – its Pino clays still break with a satisfying and visible white cloud, the lateral riffling of the clay ensures great friction with launching arms even in bad weather, and the overall design flies perfectly through the air thanks to centrifugal force.

Sometimes the smallest changes add up to make a big difference, and that is really the whole point of trying to be more kind to the environment that we love to enjoy our pastimes in.