April 12, 2024 09:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time
We are proud to announce the Coach (Re)Loved & Repair Workshop located in North Bergen, New Jersey has achieved Gold-level TRUE Zero Waste Certification. TRUE Zero Waste Certification is granted to facilities that have met a certain set of stringent waste reduction requirements. Most critically, TRUE Zero Waste certified facilities must demonstrate that they divert at least 90% of the waste generated from landfills through different channels such as recycling, reuse, repair, composting, and more.
For over 30 years, the Coach (Re)Loved & Repair Workshop operated as our hub for Coach Repair services in North America. In 2021 we launched Coach (Re)Loved, and have since transformed the facility into its headquarters, bringing together specialized craftspeople, designers and sustainability professionals to accelerate Coach’s transition toward a circular economy. The Coach (Re)Loved program includes four key segments – Coach Upcrafted, Coach Remade, Coach Restored and Coach Vintage – that give pre-loved and damaged Coach products a second life. We also have our Coach (Re)Loved Exchange program to enable consumers to trade in eligible pre-loved Coach items for credit so that the cycle can continue for generations more. Since its inception, Coach (Re)Loved has given more than 45,000 products a second life through our four pillars: Upcrafted, Remade, Restored, and Vintage.
TRUE Zero Waste Certification, managed by the US Green Building Council, encourages facilities to rethink their whole systems approach, by transforming the way materials flow through our operations and as a result lead to zero waste. The Coach (Re)Loved & Repair Workshop in its nature works to maximize the life of our products and minimize waste wherever possible. As a part of the certification process, we partnered with the sustainability team at Recycle Track Systems (RTS) and established some programs and initiatives at our Workshop, including but not limited to:
- Engaged our Workshop employees by establishing a Zero Waste Leaders working group, consisting of 14 employees that are charged with implementing and maintaining our zero waste culture.
- Diverted over 5 tons of workshop waste and damaged product from landfill through our partnership with ReCircled, which converts these materials into new raw materials.
- Updated our pantry, by providing reusable utensils and plates to discourage single-use plastics, and added new waste diversion methods for employee waste, such as composting and K-Cup recycling.
- Invested in a design plotter technology that allowed us to minimize leather waste, drive efficiency and reduce waste significantly.
- We’ve continued our annual waste audits and monthly diversion reporting through our partnership with RTS.
Through designing out single-use and pursuing extended life materials, the Coach (Re)Loved & Repair Workshop has achieved over 95% landfill diversion rate. The TRUE Zero Waste Certification further validates the work we have been doing to advance the circular economy through Coach (Re)Loved.
Tapestry is working toward achieving zero waste at our North America corporate sites, which include our offices and fulfillment centers. We are proud of our achievement at the Coach (Re)Loved & Repair Workshop, and, as a next step, we plan to take these learnings and pursue TRUE Zero Waste Certification at our two fulfillment centers in Jacksonville and Las Vegas.
