Sustainability

Sustainability is our passion and our commitment

– Sea Star Vineyard and winery

Our Immediate Focus and Future Mandate

As our winery grows, we will pursue certification from B Corp and the Centre for a Humane Economy. Through practices that enhance our sustainability performance, enact environmental stewardship and align with socially responsible and humane ethics.

With our inaugural 2020 vintage, we have already taken steps toward achieving these goals, embarking on a sustainability and environmental audit of our vineyard and winery operations, with a focus on energy efficiency, water use and waste management. In the coming year, we will be reviewing and vetting our supply chain and retail partnerships with a view to making changes that better reflect our core values.

Supporting the work of environmental organizations is a legacy of the previous owners and one we intend to continue, particularly their work with Raincoast Conservation Foundation who, along with Pender Islands Conservancy, are actively protecting coastal Douglas Fir forests through land acquisition strategies.

We also plan to initiate our own division of environmental education to increase general knowledge and raise public awareness of the issues that impact the West Coast biome. The simplest and most direct means for this begins with our labels. Each of our wines is represented by a species of Sea Star found locally in BC waters. On the 2020 vintage labels, we have enhanced the information to provide more details on the Sea Star’s ecological role and habitat.

Another modest, but impactful change we have made to our labels is the paper we use. We have switched to GTREE paper, which has “one of the greenest environmental footprints of any label stock currently offered.”
It is manufactured from 100% post-consumer recycled fibre and does not require the use of a plastic weld to withstand moisture, thus also greatly reducing plastic waste.

Moreover, from the manufacturer: “Among the many environment attributes, GTREE™ label stock is manufactured using 100% renewable electricity, is processed chlorine free, and is manufactured carbon-neutral. In addition, the fiber waste created during the manufacturing process is captured, processed and reused as compost for crops and bedding for livestock.”

For Sea Star to thrive, the whole community should thrive and we also intend to continue to celebrate and engage with the creative and hardworking community of Pender Island, cultivating new partnerships and hosting social events to meet each other and showcase the wide variety of talents folks here have to offer.