WidgetCo is committed to a more sustainable planet. Here are things we are doing to help.

We found an abandoned industrial space to grow in

We love old buildings. Over a decade ago, we expanded WidgetCo in a nearly abandoned industrial campus (built in the 1950's). We saw value in this old property and felt there was a way to repurpose it rather than build new. Considering that 7% of the world's CO2 emissions are generated from making cement, not to mention a lot of fresh water, we feel restoring buildings is better for the planet than building new and are thrilled to see this trend catch on.

We pioneered wine cork recycling

Over 15 years ago, we had this crazy idea, could we recycle and upcycle used wine corks. We got to work and found people were interested in acquiring clean, previously bottled wine corks for hobbies, crafts and even construction projects. We learned from customers that sourcing the corks from us was easier than drinking all that wine! We got to work on acquiring these used corks and are proud to have recycled millions of used wine corks. Through our wine cork recycling endeavors, we have donated over $120,000 to forest and ocean conservation. We care deeply about clean oceans and protecting forests, and have expanded our recycling efforts by adding CorkClub. Now, everyone can recycle their used wine corks. For the corks we receive, we help some worthwhile ocean and forest conservation efforts by sharing proceeds from this project.

We love turning people on to cork

We love cork - one of the more eco-friendly raw materials on Earth. Cork is also biodegradable and recyclable. Harvesting cork is sustainable and all the carbon produced in processing and transporting cork is offset by the trees that produce cork. A portion of tree bark is harvested once every 9-11 years to produce your corks, and the bark regrows, so no trees get cut down. Next time you pop a cork, smile, your planet thanks you.

We have been buying carbon-offsets for over 10 years.

Today, carbon offsets are far more common than when we started buying them in 2008 for our freight. We are now working to expand this to include all our transportation - even small package deliveries to you. Carbon-offsets are a financial instrument that direct funds to offset the carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels to ship products, among other things. Planting trees and protecting rainforests from deforestation are ways carbon-offsets are used to absorb the CO2 generated from burning fossil fuels; in return, this helps the planet.

We recycle more plastic than we sell.

Through our wine cork recycling efforts, we recycle more weight in plastic than we sell in our small plastic products. Imagine if every company did that? There would be zero plastic waste in our oceans and waterways.

Sustainability