At Minimal Gear, we aim to minimize the social and environmental impacts related to our products, suppliers, and operations by tracking our emissions and partaking in a series of environmental initiatives.
Our Initiatives:
- Emission Reduction: Minimal Gear commits to a 50% emissions reduction by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050 based upon our 2022 emissions. We believe that it is possible for our company to reach these goals sooner than those dates. You can track our progress on these goals through our impact reports on the Cnoc Outdoors and Diorite Gear webpages.
- Optimized Shipping: By using low-impact materials, eliminating plastic, and prioritizing low-impact shipping, we aim to reduce emissions from our sales.
- Volunteering and donations: We donate more than 20% of our profits to charity to help groups involved in conservation or encouraging diversity within outdoor spaces. The groups we support can be found here. We have also adopted a section of the PCT which we personally maintain.
- Recycling: Almost the entirety of our products can be recycled through active composting, including our TPU-based products like the Vecto and the Vesica. We recycle all warranty, defective, or replacement products in our warehouse. We also accept TPU products for recycling at our warehouse in Portland, Oregon and are working with our retailers to incentivize a recycling program across the country at each of our retail locations.
Our process:
Knowing our impact is just as important and taking steps to reduce it. Doing so allows us to address areas where our emissions become the highest and take action to reduce them. We currently track our emissions through the following means:
- Inventory Analysis: By incorporating methodology used in Life Cycle Assessments, our Inventory Analysis allows us to measure the specific impact of each of our products in Kilograms of Carbon Dioxide. This also lets us know which aspects of our products create the largest impact so we can use less impactful materials and designs.
- Quarterly GHG Inventories: By tracking our imports, exports, gas usage, and shipping usage, we can measure the amount of CO2 within any time period. At minimum, we track our emissions upon a quarterly basis.
- Third Party Emissions Calculator: In addition to tracking emissions ourselves, we use a third-party calculator to help ensure the validity of our data and track the more indirect forms of emissions. This includes the impact of things like obtaining office supplies and the use of programming to help our company operate.