As a company with a focus on youth culture, a sustainable approach has long been part of our common workplace practices across our global operations. This includes the following general policies and practices, many of which we are continuing to develop:

OPERATIONS

• Minimising paper and cardboard use via practices such as printing controls and an active policy of reuse of cardboard boxes in our warehouses.
• Reusing materials where possible – this is very much in line with our lean approach to budgeting and cost control across the Company.
• Recycling waste to minimise landfill disposal.
• Continued work on increased energy efficiency including introducing various automated lighting, heating and cooling systems in our premises along with efficient light fittings.
• Responsibly sourced recycled paper used in all offices.
• Sourcing sustainable toilet paper and tissues from Who Gives A Crap and soap from Thankyou.
• Recycling the coffee grounds from both our kitchen and neighbouring cafes with Reground and other organic waste to an onsite wormfarm and kitchen garden.
• Our web hosting company for this site uses offset sustainable energy.

PREMISES

From the company’s earliest origins, there has been a philosophy in place to repurpose existing buildings rather than brand new development for our facilities. Globe International’s Melbourne headquarters in Port Melbourne is an exemplar of this with the recycling of a disused and dilapidated warehouse into modern offices and warehousing. Guiding the new fit out was both the re-use of existing materials on site and infrastructure from previous offices. As part of setting formal targets, our Australian operations joined the CitySwitch energy efficiency program in 2017. In order for our headquarters to go to completely renewable power, in 2020, a 265kWp solar power array was installed on site (See the video here).

PRODUCT

• As members of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), circular design and the use of recycled materials for packaging and swing tags are prioritised in production.
• We were partners of the REDcycle soft plastic recycling scheme in Australia until it’s closure in 2022 but now continue to recycle soft plastics onsite at our Melbourne offices and warehouse through our partnership with Reground, along with minimizing the use of plastic overall in our product packaging.
• Our offices and flagship retail stores collect used and broken skateboards so they can be reused or recycled via a network of skateboard charities and small woodworking companies.
• We are foundation members of the national footwear recycling scheme, Tread Lightly. Run by the Australian Sporting Goods Association in collaboration with other industry partners, Australians are to encouraged to recycle their footwear and to avoid sending old shoes to landfill.
• Our onsite generated textile waste and garments returned to us through our various wear-testing programs are recycled by UPPAREL, Australasia’s leaders in textile recovery and recycling.
• Globe is an accredited importer and member of B-cycle, Australia’s official battery stewardship scheme, encouraging the responsible recycling of batteries used in our products like electric skateboards.
• Due to concerns around animal welfare practices in global supply chains, Globe International has publicly pledged not to use fur (including angora) in its products across all brands.
• We joined the Leather Working Group (LWG) in 2022 to support more responsible leather manufacturing. The global multistakeholder, Leather Working Group, is a member-led not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to driving excellence in the leather industry, minimizing the environmental impact of leather production, and challenging industry perceptions, through a suite of tools and global audit standard. We have now achieved our goal of purchasing 100% of our leather from preferred suppliers who have achieved LWG certification with the highest rating (LWG Gold) and will continue to maintain this standard.
• As one the world’s largest manufacturers of premium skateboards, we clearly use a significant amount of wood in our production. In order to off-set the timber we use in our skateboard production, our goal is to engage in forestry efforts that replace far more than we consume.

To that effect, since 2018 we have partnered with The National Forest Foundation (NFF) to donate to their tree planting program. The NFF is an American non-profit organisation who partner with the United States Forest Service, particularly in the area of restoring forest areas damaged by wildfire, drought and pests. The NFF has recently announced the ambitious goal to plant 50 million trees across National Forests by 2023 so we are proud to be making a contribution towards that effort. Our 2023 donation to the NFF has continued to effectively plant over three times the amount of trees we harvest yearly in the making of our skateboards.