Due to the continuous rise in the price of down feathers, some unscrupulous merchants in mainland China have begun to recycle second-hand shuttlecocks at high prices, grinding them into filling material for down jackets. Experts point out that these down jackets not only do not provide warmth, but the glue and dust from the shuttlecocks may also cause allergies or even poisoning to the wearers.
According to a report by CCTV, many “down jackets” in China are labeled as having a 90% down content at ultra-low prices, but they are actually filled with crushed bird feather scraps instead of down, often referred to as “crushed feathers”. Investigative journalists from Dahe News found that some merchants, in order to reduce costs, are even acquiring used shuttlecocks, dismantling the shuttlecock feathers, and grinding them into fiber to replace down.
These merchants post information about high-priced purchases of second-hand shuttlecocks on social media platforms, attracting many badminton enthusiasts, and sports hall staff to inquire and negotiate in an attempt to turn their used shuttlecocks into cash.
When asked about the purpose of purchasing the shuttlecocks, most of these merchants claim that they are used to make handicrafts or to select intact feathers for remaking training shuttlecocks. However, some merchants have revealed that most of the used shuttlecocks will be crushed to make “down filling”.
A Henan businessman named Liu, who has been operating a small machinery wholesale business for many years, stated that this kind of business is nothing new. Several years ago, out-of-town customers asked him for prices on “high-speed ultra-fine feather grinding machines” and were particularly prompt in making payments.
Liu witnessed at the installation site that a large pile of feathers, including shuttlecock feathers, was waiting to be ground into fibers. Liu also mentioned that “using shuttlecock feathers to make fibers is already ‘quite conscientious'”, and he saw various colored chicken feathers, pig hairs, and other raw materials at the site, indicating that an additional bleaching process is required.
Industry insiders state that there is still a huge gap between ground feather fibers and down. Not only do they differ significantly in warmth, loftiness, and lightness, but concerns about cleanliness are also raised: “Shuttlecock feathers have hard shafts, and grinding them into fibers easily produces dust, and the glue on the shafts cannot be processed,” this dust may cause wearers to have allergies or even poisoning.
The skyrocketing price of duck and goose down feathers is cited as one of the reasons for the proliferation of “shuttlecock feather fibers”.
“Dong Boss”, a former trader in finished down products who is now an active self-media anti-counterfeiting advocate on short video platforms, pointed out, “Last year, ’90 duck down’ was only just over 300,000 yuan per ton, but this year it jumped directly to over 500,000 yuan, while ’90 goose down’ soared from over 700,000 yuan last year to a peak of 1.2 million yuan mid-year, and in recent days dropped back to around 700,000 yuan, equivalent to about 700 yuan per kilogram.”
Obtaining stable quality fibers from shuttlecocks can be quite “cost-effective”, according to an informed source. About half of the weight of shuttlecocks can be dismantled to obtain shuttlecock feathers, which, at the recycling price, cost less than 40 yuan per kilogram, and the fibers produced can satisfy the production of 4-5 down jackets.
Additionally, during an undercover investigation of manufacturers producing low-quality down jackets, it was also revealed that the appearance of the down can be the same, but the cost differs significantly – filling “90 down” requires 800 yuan, while filling with “high fiber” costs only 400 yuan.