Environmentally-Driven Commitment
We are first in the industry to create an Environmental Affairs Department and conduct an audit and analysis to help guide the way we change our business operations. Our Environmental Affairs Department is dedicated solely to the management and development of Sole Technology’s green initiatives. Conducted in 2007, the first-ever Ecological Footprint Survey took a 360-degree look company-wide at business operations and supply chain, though the journey began more than 10 years ago.
Initiatives that we’ve instituted as a result of our Environmentally-Driven Commitment:
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Sole Technology's Research and Design Building
Senizergues ventured into this new Eco Age with eyes-wide open, examining issues of climate change, limited natural resources and increased costs. His findings led his focus on transforming Sole Technology’s headquarters to be more eco-friendly using sustainable materials. In 2002, groundbreaking of the Sole Technology Research & Design Building began. The new building, skateboard inspired with contemporary modernism and ecological design, incorporated eco-sensitive materials from head to toe, boasting the installation of 616 solar panels and using recycled sandstone and other materials throughout.
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Blue Bin Brigade
With the outside complete, Senizergues focused in on the inner workings of his business by utilizing his employees and formed the Blue Bin Brigade in 2005. The Blue Bin Brigade is an internal committee whose goal it is to increase awareness about industrial and operational waste and find environmentally friendly means of conducting business in all aspects of the company.
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Environmental Affairs Department and Ecological Footprint Survey
Next came the heavy lifting, Senizergues hired on Roian Atwood as Environmental Affairs Manager, thus creating the Environmental Affairs Department, two firsts within the action sports industry in 2007. Atwood took on the challenge, diving head first into conducting an Ecological Footprint Survey that examined Sole Technology’s business practices, focusing predominately on its carbon emissions, waste and consumption and water usage. Through these findings, aggressive goals were put into place to begin taking action to become an environmental leader within the action sports industry. The largest of these goals is to be a carbon neutral company by 2020.
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Partnerships and Associations with a Shared Vision for Sustainability in the Action Sports Industry
Sole Technology’s green commitment continues beyond its own front doors and is dedicated to finding sustainable solutions together with other like-minded companies in our manufacturing efforts as an industry. In addition, Sole Technology has supported groups like SIMA, ASEC, 1% For the Planet, L.E.A.F., Inside the Outdoors, Laguna College of Art and Design and various tree planting organizations in their quest for the environment. In 2008, Sole Technology established the annual “Green Sole Awards” to acknowledge local and international partners’ efforts in better eco practices.