Coir is a waste product of the massive coconut industry so it is making good use of what otherwise is often burnt. Coir and coconuts are produced from a crop from a perennial tree, which means that the parent trees are constantly sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, so helping carbon removal from the atmosphere.
Coir is produced in the area where the coconuts grow and consequently it has to be transported (by container ship) to where it is to be used (UK), which is often one of the negatives mentioned, however the transportation carbon cost is far outweighed by the carbon capturing of the crop while growing.
Part of the process of preparing coir for use in pot or compost is sifting/grading to separate the fine material from the courser hairier material for their different uses. Part of the preparation process is cleaning of the fibres with water which has a environmental impact but is minimal in the area where the processing takes place where rainfall is generally high. Compared with the benefits the production creates in using up otherwise production waste and benefitting the local community who gain hugely from the employment provided.
We buy from one specific village producer in Sri Lanka, originally started as a government sponsored community project, and they have built a school, old people's home, and extension to the local medical centre over the years, from the proceeds of coir pot production of which the majority were sold to us.
Using coir is just one part of the improvements we have been applying innovatively to our nursery, wooden reusable marketing trays, peat-free compost, card based plant labels and POS material, wooden info boards are just the start of it.