Cora + Spink Pollutes

Steps we take at Cora + Spink to reduce our footprint.

Cora + Spink’s IMPACT.

No process is 100% efficient, the making of a Cora + Spink backpack is no different, our processes make waste, and in a nutshell, improperly handled waste can become pollution.

How much pollution C+S makes around the world, and what we can do to minimise that impact, is our responsibility. We have found the following three actions can be applied to our personal and business lives… the small things count.

ONE

Cora + Spink backpacks are made to last. This means the amount of energy (physical, material, mental) put in at the start of the backpack’s life, is spread out over a long time. Like a super efficient car – it’s still consuming energy, but allowing you to go further.

Try to understand the things you buy, where it comes from, who it’s made by, and what will happen when it’s no longer needed. Information is key, when we’re informed we can make better decisions about impact, and buy accordingly.

TWO

Try not to be wasteful. At the workshop we save every scrap of canvas to be utilised in smaller products. Products that need smaller panels can be made after the large items…

Only when the scrap material is too small to be made into products, is it sold to textile reclaimers, who break the fibres to be made into new yarns and textiles. This reclamation process is quite ancient in the textile industry – C+S canvas is composed of up to 40% reclaimed cotton, whilst the linings are 100% reclaimed cotton from industry and post consumer textile waste.

Only in recent times, where mass production, synthetic fibres and fast fashion have skewed the demand away from natural fibres that we see the value of waste fibres so low that they end up in landfill or being burned.

Utilising something, in a circular fashion is much better than recycling, and recycling is better than dumping it in the ground. Fast fashion is not cheap, it just doesn’t cost much now – we will pay for it dearly in the future.

THREE

When we can’t do something directly, we work with those who can, there are organisations doing genuine good out there and we try to take part as much as we can. For example, within the UK our business is supplied via 100% renewable energy, our website servers, paper suppliers are all carbon neutral / have projects to offset we can contribute to.

At it’s core Cora + Spink sets out to ensure the people we work with are happy, this means we dedicate time and money to help improve lives around the world by donating to various projects. We have worked with various schemes to plant trees, collect plastic waste, build wind farms and a hydro electrical system in Madagascar. Recently we have been able to support wind energy, in Vader Piet, Aruba.

This is all possible because the profits from the sale of every Cora + Spink product directly feed back where needed. Small businesses are much more flexible when it comes to operating like this, whilst our actual monetary donations might be small, we can focus on specific causes, and make a difference where every sale helps benefit a person or family.

CONCLUSION

No matter what we do we will always have an effect on the rock we call earth. We have a saying “if your great, great grand parents would recognise it, know how it works and could repair it, then it stands a chance it’s okay for you and the environment”.

” Tim Johnson, we’re not here to save the planet, but I will never stop trying to make it a better place… “