On June 11th in Nazareth PA, environmental leaders from across the world met at the 7th biannual wood summit hosted by Martin Guitar. The summit, which took place at the Jacobsburg Environmental Center, was attended by a who’s who in Environmental action, including National Resources Canada, the World Resource Institute, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Investigation Agency.
The topic at hand was the preservation of rare and exotic tone woods, where deforestation has lead to endangerment of woods historically used in guitar manufacturing. This included discussions on the latest CITES regulations that have become more strict around rosewood, among other tone woods. Chris Martin, the CEO of Martin Guitars, stated that “...convincing the customers – both the consumer and the dealer – that there are other viable woods” will be key to sustainability moving forward, a commitment that Martin is proud to be championing.
For Martins part, a ceremony took place to announce their acceptance as a Certified B Corporation. The designation, held by other Environmentally friendly companies such as Ben & Jerrys, Patagonia and Warby Parker, is given to businesses that practice within a strict 170 point review of their environmental impact. Martin took the opportunity to announce a new warehouse to store both raw materials and finished products, a move that would be their largest ever capital investment and a sign of growth in the acoustic guitar market.
Since the event took place, Martin has also joined forces with D’addario to become a supporting sponsor of their ‘Playback’ guitar string recycling program. The program, to which we are also a member, collects used strings from guitar players across the country and sends them off to Terracycle to be recycled. When asked about the sponsorship, Martin stated “Martin Guitar has a long-standing commitment to corporate responsibility and environmental stewardship and is proud to support the playback string recycling program.”