Sustainability Policy
Cork, Organic Cotton & Steel
The Power of Cork
Cork is the outer bark of the Cork Oak Tree, a species unique to the Mediterranean region. It is a material defined by its extraordinary properties: it is thermic, acoustic, elastic, and resistant to abrasion. Beyond its durability, cork is naturally resistant to moisture and to the bacteria that cause odour. Most importantly for our planet, the material itself is biodegradable and can be recycled.
An Ecological Treasure
By the cork industry’s own estimates, roughly 6.6 million acres of cork forest stretch across Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia, and France. These forests support some of the highest levels of biodiversity of any landscape on earth.
Ethical Harvesting & Zero Waste
The process of producing cork might surprise you—it is a lesson in patience. Cork Oaks remain untouched for their first 30 years. Once mature, they are harvested only every 9 to 12 years. Not a single tree is ever cut down; instead, the bark is carefully stripped by hand, allowing the tree to regenerate. Harvested trees can live for up to 300 years, and industry research reports that a regularly harvested tree absorbs several times more carbon dioxide than one left unharvested.
By the industry’s count, this manual process supports over 100,000 jobs. It is also close to zero-waste: residue is granulated for other products, and even cork dust is used as fuel.
Did you know?
"Not a single tree is ever cut down; instead, the bark is carefully stripped by hand, allowing the tree to regenerate."
From Forest to Mat
A glimpse into the centuries-old tradition of cork harvesting in Portugal.
A freshly harvested cork oak reveals its inner bark, ready to regenerate over the next decade.
Skilled harvesters carefully strip the bark by hand—no tree is ever cut down.
Raw cork bark on the forest floor, naturally dried before processing.
Harvested cork planks are transported for natural curing—sun, wind, and rain do the work.
Our Clean Production Process
Our cork is Portuguese, from FSC-certified forests and suppliers, and processed using strictly eco-friendly methods. The harvested planks are stacked in piles for up to six months, exposed to sun, wind, and rain to stabilize naturally. They are then boiled at high temperatures to clean and soften the material without the use of harsh chemicals.
This natural processing keeps the material clean without chemical treatment. Cork is also naturally antibacterial: in a published laboratory study of cork as a material (FEMS Microbiology Letters), cork reduced Staphylococcus aureus by 96.93% after 90 minutes and Escherichia coli by 36%. That study tested cork, not our finished mats; we cite it because it describes the surface you practise on, and it is why a cork mat stays fresh with nothing more than a damp cloth.
Handloomed Organic Cotton
Not everything we make is cork. Our Kaya Heritage rugs are woven from organic cotton yarns — cotton grown without synthetic pesticides — on a handloom, in the classic Indian tradition. A handloom is worked by hand rather than driven by a mill, which is slower by design and part of why each rug carries small variations no machine would produce.
The colours come from Ayurvedic herbal dyes rather than synthetic pigment, which is why they soften rather than fade harshly over years of practice. Each rug is finished with a rubber-weaved underside so it holds its place on any floor, and the whole thing can be machine washed and line dried.
At the end of a long life, cotton is fibre. It returns to the earth in a way a petrochemical laminate never will.
Steel, Cork & Bamboo
Our Kala and Sukhla bottles are double-walled 18/8 stainless steel, wrapped in a natural cork sleeve and closed with a bamboo lid. No plastic in the drinking path, and no plastic in the lid — the part most “eco” bottles quietly keep.
The cork sleeve is there for a practical reason as much as an aesthetic one: bare steel is slippery with sweaty hands and uncomfortable to hold when the contents are very hot or very cold. Cork solves both, which is what makes the bottle one you actually keep reaching for.
That matters more than the materials do. A reusable bottle only earns its footprint by being used — so we build ours to last and back them with a five-year limited warranty.
The honest version
“The greenest bottle is the one you already own. The second greenest is one built well enough that you stop replacing it.”
Our Commitment to the Planet
Kaya Eco Living is committed to a plastic-free future. Our products are vegan and shipped in recycled paper packaging, and we would rather say less here and have every sentence on this page be one we can show.