To celebrate the 46th World Environment Day, we wanted to share with you some of the ways Etiko is dedicated to protecting the environment.
Going carbon neutral. Etiko’s carbon footprint was first calculated at approximately 66.48 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this being significantly lower than the industry standard, we wanted to do more.
One of the ways we chose to offset our emissions was by purchasing carbon credits from Timor-Leste via Carbon Social. Carbon Social work with more than 950 subsistence farmers to replant forests. By supporting these farmers, their livelihoods are improved, their communities benefit, the local environment is restored and biodiversity can be protected or improved.
Since we started buying our carbon credits in 2017, we have offset 90k tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year, and are on track to being completely carbon neutral throughout our supply chains by the end of this year. Meanwhile, the Australian fashion industry set their target for zero carbon emissions at 2050.
Minimising waste. We don’t want to contribute to plastic pollution or excess waste, so Etiko uses cardboard swing tags and packaging for our shoes and clothing. All paper or cardboard products are made from recycled Forest Stewardship Council certified paper.
Our plastic mail satchels are either compostable or made from 80% recycled plastic, and we choose to use natural textiles like cotton and hemp, rather than synthetics that shed microfibres.
Organic farming. We don’t believe companies should own seeds or that vast amounts of chemicals should be sprayed onto crops, polluting the environment, destroying the soil and potentially harming farmers. Instead, we only used certified organic cotton or hemp on our shoes or shirts.
Sustainably farmed rubber that gets recycled. Most people might not know that the rubber in thongs or sneakers is usually derived from petrochemicals. At Etiko, we use sustainably grown and farmed rubber from rubber tree plantations. This means we are using an all-natural product while supporting Fairtrade farmers.
To close the loop on our waste, we have taken things one step further and started taking back your old Etiko thongs and sneakers at the end of their life. We then offer your old shoes for recycling at a Melbourne-based recycled scheme, where they are transformed into outdoor furniture.
In the future we plan to extend our take back scheme to cover all Etiko clothing and apparel, except underwear, and recycle the textiles into thread.
#FORNATURE
Leave a comment