Reducing Our Footprint
We are committed to reducing our footprint at all three of our locations. Changes range from big and small, and we’re especially proud of our efforts to reduce leather scraps, plastic shrink wrap, food scraps and plastic strapping. See below the ways we’re making our business more sustainable:
Compost and Recycling:
Commercially Composted Items
32,877 lbs
Diverted from Landfills
(July ’18 – April ’24)
Leather Scraps Recycled
56,953 lbs
(July ’18 – April ’24)
Plastic Shrink Wrap Recycled
21,245 lbs
(July ’18 – April ’24)
Plastic Strapping Recycled
1,016 lbs
(July ’18 – April ’24)
Other Changes
- Electric car chargers – Watson Gloves Burnaby Branch is now part of the CleanBC Program – installed 5 Go Electric EV Chargers at Burnaby Branch parking lot for staff usage
- Reduced plastic packaging – plastic strapping will no longer be on our outer cases of disposable gloves
- Transitioning to Cardboard J-Hooks – plastic j-hooks will be replaced with recycled cardboard j-hooks
- Transitioning to Recycled Glove Tags – glove tags will all be transitioned to 100% recycled paper
- Coffee mugs – reusable for branch office use
- Coffee-to-go mugs – offered to staff
- Reusable water bottles for all staff
- Cutlery – no plastic – now compostable wood
- Stir sticks – no plastic – now compostable wood
- Coffee pods – moved all 3 branches to 100% compostable organic fair-trade coffee pods, OneCoffee
- No more plastic cups – we now only use cups made from 100% renewable resources certified by BPI and meet ASTM standards for compostability
- Transitioned to LED lighting in all of our 3 branches – 30% energy savings
- Transitioned to 50% post consumer printer paper
- Catalogues – available online to reduce need for printing
- Set up a recycling program for all pens, felt pens, sharpies
- Annually, over 1,120,000 plastic poly bags are not going to the landfill. All glove styles from our largest supplier now come in landfill biodegradable bags
- All of our BC factory gloves are now packaged in landfill biodegradable bags from Unitrend Plastics
- Currently reviewing our printed glove tags and are transitioning to post-consumer waste shortly
There’s a new EV in town — Keep your eyes peeled for our funky Bottles to Gloves electric car on the road now – in the Greater Vancouver area!
Partnerships & Certifications
FSC Recycled
FSC – It’s paper that is certified coming from a verified place of looking after our forests. FSC labels can be found on thousands of products around the world. They provide consumers with the assurance that the product is made from responsible sources and has been verified to meet FSC’s strict environmental and social standards. Learn more here.