helmet - trash or recyclable?

[OakLeaf]

Yes, UV and ozone do break down the styrofoam, but unless it's stored in the sun next to an electric motor, it gets most of its damage from the oils and acids it's exposed to when it touches your hair and skin or gets sweated on.

A NOS helmet that had been on the shelf for 7 or 10 years, no, I absolutely would not wear. But if I buy one that's reasonably new, I feel perfectly safe wearing it for five years.

The only reason that manufacturers that have a pro rata trade-in program use the manufacture date, is it's the only way to verify the age of the helmet. They couldn't just take the word of the owner as to when it had been placed in service.

[withm]

Can anyone cite any references from Giro, Bell, or Trek on this concept of replacing helmets every 5 years?

I looked on the Giro website and can find no words to this effect. Seems to me this would open them up to all kinds of lawsuits if it were true and they were not publicizing this.

[OakLeaf]

It's all EPS regardless of the brand of helmet. If you're familiar with the Snell Foundation, their recommendation is good enough for me.


ETA: from Arai's website:

All Arai helmets are warranted against defects in materials and workmanship, and are serviceable only for the properly fitted* first user for 5 years from date of first use, but no more than 7 years from date of manufacture. It should be replaced within 5 years of first use.

Shoei's warranty is identical. So, they figure one of their helmets doesn't appreciably degrade over 2 years before first being placed in service.

Giro's recommendation is three years after date of purchase, not date of manufacture. Bell just says three years, without specifying when that starts. We had some discussion on this board a few months back as to whether the three years was valid (due to its being an extreme lightweight helmet) or simply a sales tactic, but in either event, it's the date of purchase that counts to them, as well.
I know that 5 years was specified on the Trek helmet I'm going to be replacing this fall - because that was the helmet I bought after a 10 year hiatus from cycling, so I actually read the instruction sheet Other than that one, I haven't read an instruction sheet recently.

[Ana]

Are there any greener helmets out there not made of styrafoam? Or any known recyclable helmets?