Responsible for waste management

We make sure that the waste management of our products is easy – preferably in the form of recycling. We work with FairWertung for the collection of used clothing and gear.

A “second life” for VAUDE products

When a product has reached its “end of life”, our customers decide what they will do with it. VAUDE has almost no influence over this decision. Nevertheless, as a manufacturer, we want to take responsibility for the entire life cycle of VAUDE products – including their disposal.

In order to facilitate meaningful re-use or recycling, we at VAUDE try to use designs, select materials and choose the best production processes to ensure that the product can be used as long as possible and then easily be disposed of – preferably recycled. Therefore, VAUDE, for example, uses no PTFE membranes that would release toxic fluorine compounds into the environment without expensive special handling.

Waste management requires energy expenditure

As consumers, we rarely think about how much energy is required to dispose of a product before we buy it. Products that are of such high quality that they remain functional and good-looking as long as possible before a new one has to be bought (as a second hand product as well) require the least amount of energy.

GRI:

EN28

GRI:

DMA Products and Services

“Second life” with FairWertung

In Germany, VAUDE works with the umbrella organization FairWertung e.V.. FairWertung is a national network of over 100 non-profit organizations. It has developed new standards for clothing collections and, since 1994, has campaigned for more transparency and responsibility in used clothing collection and recycling.

Our products have a chance at a second life with the non-profit FairWertung Organization. Clothing and gear that this non-profit organization can’t use itself are sold to textile recycling companies and the revenues earned are used to finance social projects.

At www.fairwertung.de, you can find more information including which FairWertung Organizations collect used products in your region and where their containers are located.

Pioneer in textile recycling

VAUDE is currently not accepting products or packaging for recycling. However, the company has long been a forerunner of such programs: as early as 1994, the “VAUDE Ecolog Recycling Network” was established – the first recycling system in the industry for pure polyester products with collection and recycling. Ecolog products were technically engineered to be easily returned into the polyester fiber circuit and the “Ecolog Recycling Network” was equipped with the infrastructure needed.

However, because too few products were returned to make the system “sustainable”, we had to end the program. From various studies, we know that the amount of collected products must be large enough to compensate for the logistical effort. We also know that a single brand with its own recycling system can only ever remain a niche, and has a very low impact on the overall consumption of raw materials and customer behavior in returning products.