COEC's Sustainability In Focus

Being in the outdoor industry, it's important that the wild, natural spaces that we rely on remain that way, and that they be maintained for the good of the ecosystems and living creatures that they support. Wild spaces are sacred, and precious for their own intrinsic value, beyond our ability to access them or spend time in them. When we do immerse ourselves in these environments, it helps to re-connect our species in our increasingly urbanized world, to the rhythms and cycles of the natural world - something we were intimately familiar with in bygone eras, but have lost touch with. Reconnecting with nature is important for our spiritual, mental and physical well being.

Doing our part for the environment takes on many forms within our company. For us, an important, and often overlooked factor is the quality and longevity of the products we sell. Cheaply and poorly made products may have a lower price tag, but once that item breaks (as the majority of these types of products are made in such a way as to not be easily or practically repaired), it's destined for landfill - so all the materials, fuel and energy used to make the materials, as well as energy and fuel to make the product have come to naught, other than to sit for up to thousands of years as garbage. Buying less, and sending less useless garbage to landfills is a very important way to make a difference.

Buying quality products that last, and can be repaired is one of the single most important steps a consumer can take to lower their environmental footprint. Being able to offer these types of products is something we're extremely happy and proud to do.

We also strive to source our products from countries that have strong environmental and labour laws, and from suppliers who are undertaking their own environmental initiatives (see the list at the bottom of this post).Cheaply made products often come from places where industrial pollution is considered par for the course, and a price those societies must pay in order to join the global economy: be it dumping industrial effluent into waterways, or letting harmful gasses and toxins escape into the air unfettered. These issues are tied with larger social and political issues, so we endeavour to find suppliers in countries that have enforceable environmental laws and standards. In the cases where products are made in countries withoutout strong legislation (as some products can only be had from these sources), we look for companies that maintain ISO certifications tied to high environmental and labour standards.

At our facilities, we are big proponents of the "3 R's": Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle. It's important to note that the highest impact these concepts enable occurs when they are actioned in that order: reducing waste and pollution at the outset is the best way to reduce our environmental footprint.

To that end, we've stopped using plastics in 98% of our packages (save for small amounts of tape around padding of axes), and all other packaging and packing tape is paper based. Bags used for liquids or small items are 100% compostable, and we encourage our suppliers to reduce their reliance on plastics, and applaud efforts in some jurisdictions such as the EU to require that all packaging be 100% recyclable.