We had the honor this week to present our workshop's sutatinable practices at the quarterly meeting of the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition.
The Corvallis Sustainability Coalition is a network of organizations and individual volunteers in Corvallis, Oregon, who are working together to create a sustainable community. It includes businesses, non-profits, faith communities, educational institutions, and government entities that are committed to creating a community that values environmental quality, social equity, and economic vitality.
Soft Star co-owner Tricia Salcido took the floor and began by telling the history of Soft Star Shoes. Our founder, Tim Oliver, is a strong proponent of walking lightly on the Earth, and he and his wife began their family shoemaking business as a means of making the shoes they wanted in an eco-friendly way. Tim is still an active part of our workshop, and his values have helped form our core values of sustainability.
- Handcrafting products locally instead of outsourcing overseas or using assembly-line machinery.
- Offering incentives to employees who commute by bike.
- Measuring and reducing leather scrap waste, and donating leftover scraps for crafts.
- Sourcing formaldehyde-free leather from within the USA (except for highly sustainable vegetable-tanned leather from Germany).
- Using solar panels to offset our electric carbon footprint.
- Sorted recycling bins in our workshop for both common commingled recycling and hard-to-recycle items, such as batteries, Styrofoam, soft plastics, metal and hazardous waste (we also compost food waste).
We're very proud to be part of a company that makes environmental sustainability a priority, and to be part of a community that encourages these values. For more information about our sustainability efforts, visit our Citizen of the Earth page.