Many outdoor brands have launched sustainability programs lauding recycled textiles and other materials. Black Diamond is taking another step with third-party validation of the recycled aluminum content in hard goods.
The brand claims verifying the content of recycled aluminum in products like carabiners and trekking poles is an industry first.
Quantity of Recycled Aluminum in Black Diamond Gear
In a press release this month, Black Diamond announced that UL Solutions validated that its proprietary BD7075 aluminum alloy billet contains 25% pre-consumer recycled content. This aluminum is used in all Black Diamond carabiners and is the most used material in hard goods manufacturing.
This validation results from the UL Environmental Claim Validation Procedure for Recycled Content (ECVP 2809-2).
The Salt Lake City brand also touts that trekking poles underwent UL Solutions validation. These poles are one of Black Diamond’s largest product categories. The process verified the following:
- Trail, Trail Cork, and Trail Back Trekking Poles contain 30% pre-consumer recycled aluminum, with a minimum of 14% recycled content by total finished weight.
- The Pursuit FLZ, Distance FLZ, and Distance Z Trekking Poles contain 30% pre-consumer recycled aluminum, with a minimum of 16% recycled content by finished weight.
Jess Powell, Sustainability and Advocacy Manager, explained that although Black Diamond knew there was recycled aluminum in its carabiners and poles, it had no way of knowing the percentage.
“The exciting part is that we have been able to benchmark what this baseline currently is through a reputable third party — UL Solutions (formally Underwriters Laboratory), the leading verification organization. We are now figuring out how to increase that percentage and hopefully include post-consumer recycled aluminum as well,” Powell stated.
Does Recycled Aluminum Affect Product Quality?
Black Diamond claims that utilizing recycled aluminum reduces the annual usage of virgin aluminum by 88 tons. The brand also states that this does not affect product quality.
Product quality is especially critical in climbing gear. Climbers may have concerns, unfounded or not, regarding the integrity of safety equipment made from recycled materials.
“We have to be careful about the integrity of the aluminum, considering that people are entrusting their lives to its performance (at least in terms of climbing gear),” said Powell. “We also want to make sure we maintain the reputation and performance of all BD gear, which just means we need to perform adequate testing as we work to increase the percentage.”
But Powell also added, “It’s also challenging to know the exact content, given the complications of global supply chains.”
Part of a Bigger Plan
When asked how long it had used recycled aluminum, Black Diamond surprisingly didn’t know. “To be honest, we don’t know — and that’s part of the problem with such complicated global supply chains,” Powell stated. “We now know exactly how much recycled content is in our aluminum and can work with our suppliers to increase it,” Powell added.
Increasing recycled aluminum content isn’t the only area Black Diamond is attempting to improve. It says aluminum is only part of a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030. It also claims that half of its products will be made from “preferred” materials. This encompasses recycled and regenerative fibers in softgoods.
Currently, Black Diamond claims that aluminum makes up 10% of its total carbon footprint from raw materials.
“We’ve been pursuing a palpable reduction in our carbon footprint as a part of our overarching sustainability initiative,” said Neil Fiske, President of Black Diamond Equipment. “Replacing raw material with recycled material wherever possible plays a large role in shrinking that footprint. The verification from UL Solutions substantiates our efforts.”
Black Diamond is also making efforts to extend product lifespans. It designs trekking poles to be serviceable to customers. Additionally, the brand is launching a spare parts program next year.
Finally, Black Diamond plans to launch an end-of-life recycling program for trekking poles and metallic climbing equipment. The goal is to eventually create new aluminum products from directly recycled materials (circularity) — another industry first.
Black Diamond’s Ultimate Sustainability Goal
The outdoor industry isn’t immune to “greenwashing.” Brands may execute and laud programs like this for marketing purposes as the primary goal instead of sustainability. With this in mind, we asked Powell why Black Diamond bothered with UL validation.
“The main goal with the validation was to confirm where we were with the amount of recycled aluminum in our products so we could work to increase that percentage. BD’s top-used raw material is aluminum, so this was the most sensible place for us to start when it comes to making the switch to preferred material use and efforts to reduce our carbon footprint,” explained Powell.
Powell continued, “The life cycle of aluminum is one of the most circular (think cans) and should theoretically be easy to use in lots of other products. It takes brands and consumers placing value on recycled products and demanding more of them to make that shift on a larger, industry-wide level.”
Black Diamond offers a massive array of metal products. The validated percentage of recycled aluminum in carabiners and poles is a small, incremental change. Belay devices, cams, ice axes, crampons, skis, bindings, and many other Black Diamond hard goods incorporate aluminum and other potentially recyclable metals and materials.
Fiske continued, “This is just the beginning. Our work with UL Solutions is a critical step in reducing our reliance on virgin materials and lowering our carbon footprint. We’re committed to pushing the boundaries of sustainability in the outdoor industry, and we hope our efforts inspire others to do the same.”
Look for the UL Solutions Environmental Claim Validation Mark on Black Diamond products starting in the first quarter of 2025.
