Did your bearings get wet during an outdoor skate? Or even a bit damp? It might not be too late to save them, if you act now! Clean them right away and dry them all the way out. Use Better Bearings cleaner to help against rusting. You will find a  guide on how to clean your bearings in our bearing cleaner product page. We recommend you use Better Bearings cleaning products. Check out our cleaning kits  or bearing wash and bearing lubricant.

Bearings are a consumable products and will eventually wear out, and in this guide, you will find out ways to dispose of them while keeping the environment in mind. 

Parts of Bearing

First off you will want to inspect the coloured bearing shield to see if there is any rust on the inside. If there is no rust evident you will be able to keep these shields for other bearings. You may like the colour still and can mix and match them in with other colours. Down the track you might get wheels with new colours and you may be thankful that you have spare matching shields. You might also want to trade shields with your skate buddies or just have some spare if you new shields start rusting. The same shields can go in both 8mm and 7mm bearings. 

Recycle Your Bearings

Stainless steel bearings (the kind found in most skates) can be recycled. Some cities include stainless steel in their curb-side recycling. Which means you only need to remove the retainer and place the rest in the recycling bin. 

In other places you can drop your bearings off at a local scrap yard or recycling centre. 

For ceramic bearings, we haven't as yet come up with a way to recycle them, so they will have to go in the bin. Lucky these beauties last longer than their stainless steel friends.

Make Jewellery out of your old Bearings

Lots of skaters like to make Jewellery out of their bearings. . 

Making a ring. If you take apart all of the components, you’re left with a metal ring from the outer race. Clean it up and make it look nice, and you have yourself ring for a finger. You could also make a necklace or a bracelet. 

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