Down with it
Durango Outdoor Exchange brings feather recycling to Durango

Let’s face it: sometimes, our chosen forms of outdoor recreation aren’t exactly easy on the environment, particularly our winter ones. But the Durango Outdoor Exchange wants to help lessen the impact.

In addition to being Durango's go-to spot for buying and selling used outdoor gear and clothing for the last 10 years, DOE will also be hosting three days of events this month to help keep gear in use longer and valuable resources out of the landfill. “Feathers and Fixes,” taking place Nov. 14-16, deals with – you guessed it – recycling and repairing everything from down jackets and sleeping bags to that Gore-tex ski jacket you snagged on a tree but is otherwise perfectly usable.

And finally, to make sure your most precious pieces of gear – your boards – are in ship shape, there will also be a DIY waxing set-up on Sun., Nov. 16, from 5-7 p.m. featuring planet friendly, plant-based waxing products.

But before we get to that, let’s start with the big one: down. As we’ve probably all learned by now, that cozy, trusty puffy (or puffies) come with a price. And we’re not just talking financially. In addition to ethical concerns over harvesting of feathers using the flocked-up (sorry) practice of  “live plucking,” (which is as horrible as it sounds), there are environmental concerns with down as well. Pollution from farms, habitat destruction and greenhouse gas emissions are all downsides to that amazingly light, fluffy cloud you wrap yourself in every day before heading outside (and sometimes inside). The processing of feathers can also involve harsh chemicals, another ding in the environmental column.

With these things in mind, DOE owner Jen LaCroix wanted to find a way to recycle the massive amounts of down that come through the store. Although the store regularly donates down sleeping bags, jackets and other items to the local unhoused population, they still find themselves up to their beaks in feathers. 

Then, at a Green Business roundtable, LaCroix learned about the Colorado Circular Economy Development Center, or CEDC. A program of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, its aim is to facilitate Colorado’s circular economy – that is, taking products at the end of their lifecycle, like down or plastic film, and recovering and reusing them to make new materials or products. 

“The idea is that semitrucks are coming from the Front Range to these rural areas to deliver goods. And then they're driving home empty,” explained LaCroix. “So what the CEDC has done is create an opportunity for those semitrucks to be filled with recyclable materials that are then taken to factories on the Front Range to be recycled.”

To that end, DOE will be holding a down drive of sorts that weekend, asking folks to bring in their old down items, from comforters to coats. What can’t be sold at the store will be loaded on the truck and brought to the Front Range. From there, it will go to Tersus Solutions, a Denver-based leader in cleaning and recycling down from the outdoor industry, including such heavy hitters as Patagonia, North Face and Arc’Teryx. 

“It just makes sense for our shop. We have so much down coming our way; just in our relatively small community,” said LaCroix. “It felt exciting to have another place to take that. The thought of extending the life of those feathers just feels like the right thing to do.”

And LaCroix notes the drive is not just limited to jackets. “It can also be down comforters, down pillows, sleeping bags, things like that … anything where the feathers still have integrity.”

In addition to the down drive, DOE will offer a DIY “gear repair” station using Gearaid Tenacious Tape (like duct tape but much stronger and better looking.) And, if you happen to have something that needs fixing beyond a couple of cute patches, there’s help for you, too.

After taking a hiatus from the gear-repair world, Durango’s favorite “bro sewer,” Tae Hillyer, of San Juan Sewing, is back in business. Although he works out of a space in the Main Mall, DOE, in addition to Pine Needle Mountaineering, will serve as a drop-off spots for repairs.

“Tae recognized that there's still a demand for professional gear repair, but it was hard for him to both do his work and facilitate the drop-off and pick up. So we're offering that,” said LaCroix. “It's really streamlined. People just come in, fill out a form and drop off  their item. Then, he contacts them via email once it's ready and drops it in a different bin here, and they come and pick it up. And then they pay him directly.” 

And last but not least, there’s the DIY waxing event from 5-7 p.m. Sun., Nov. 16, featuring products from Mountainflow, a maker of earth-friendly, plant-based waxes. (In case you didn’t get the memo, those fluoro-carbon waxes are a complete nightmare for the environment and highly frowned upon. They are even banned by the FIS, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Plus, they’re so 2005.)

“Mountainflow has kind of made a big name for themselves in the last few years. They were on Shark Tank, and a lot of shops in town carry them. It's a great product, and it's plant-based rather than petroleum based,” LaCroix said. “On Sunday, we will have waxing stations set up. We are not personally doing the waxing, but people can come do it themselves, use the product and hang out.”

And while you’re there, be sure to check out DOE’s gently used down selection (which will be 20% off all weekend long). After all, now that winter’s here, couldn’t you use another puffy to go with your shorts and flip flops?

“I love recycling. It's sort of alarming how much comes our way from our one community and how much just gets tossed into landfills, because there's an excess,” said LaCroix. “So we want to do whatever we can to keep that out.”