Big Ping Pong has a Big Problem
Big Ping Pong has a Big Problem: not a single one of the world's most established table tennis companies even mentions sustainability on their websites – let alone considers it when creating and manufacturing products at scale.
Seriously, take a look: Donic. Joola. Stiga. Cornilleau. Kettler. Pongori (the Decathlon brand). Sauer&Tröger. Sunflex. Gewo. Yasaka. Victas.
These companies have all been manufacturing table tennis equipment for several decades. And yet none of them utter a single word about the provenance of the materials they use, the labour standards in their supply chains, or their carbon contributions.
Whether it's through wilful ignorance or complete naivety, established table tennis businesses are not taking accountability for their environmental impact.
But it's 2022. And the table tennis players around the world deserve better.
(Butterfly, to be fair, have made a water bottle from bio-degradable plastic. But that's as good as it gets.)
We can't claim that Toucan is perfect from a sustainability perspective: there's always more brands can do, especially those working with wood and cotton.
But we are careful to source wooden, cardboard and packaging components from FSC-certified forests; to avoid plastic in our packaging altogether; to only work with organically-sourced cotton from regenerative sources for apparel; and to only work with carefully-selected partners who uphold the highest standards in labour and ethics.
You can see more here.