September 2008
Change is in the air
Is it just me, or are things finally starting to change in a truly significant way on the environmental front? It seems at least like we’re hearing more and more about positive initiatives by large companies. Which is great because as we all know, money makes the world go around. And I’ve put mine on the fact that it will make it go green as well. In the auto industry, for example, there is currently a very “green” Volvo ad running. The ad’s primary focus is the fact that the 2009 lineup of Volvo cars are environmentally friendly in several ways – and its major focus is that they are 85 percent recyclable. This is fantastic news to my ears because it is just great to hear a major auto maker focus their sales pitch on recyclability. And GM, as another example, recently issued a press release about how 12 of its US plants and 43 worldwide are now “landfill free” – meaning they reuse or recycle everything, from aluminum chips and plastic trays to used gloves. The company says it has eliminated 8,000 tons of waste annually.
If we take another large industry such as electronics manufacturing, big players like Sony, LG and HP are leading the way in product stewardship initiatives, and the fact is that others are being forced to follow in order to compete. In recent news, LG has joined Sony in being the only TV manufacturers to offer a free recycling program for old products. This comes in time to coincide with the tsunami of old TVs that have already started flooding our landfills (and developing countries) as the conversion to all-digital television approaches.
And then across the pond, where we can so often look for what may be coming to a town near you, an interesting little initiative is underway where local authorities and businesses can apply for the rights to set up one of five ‘Zero Waste Places’ around the UK. The locations will be set up with the goal of demonstrating best practices in waste management. Called the Defra Initiative (Defra is the UK’s Department for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs), the aim is to create cities, towns, communities or even just markets which “go as far as possible in reducing the environmental impact of waste.” The successful applicants will be required to strive towards zero waste and are also required to attract media coverage and popular support for the campaign. Successful applicants for the project would be charged with identifying barriers and finding solutions to reducing waste in their areas and are expected to report their findings back to Defra by spring of 2009. (Visit www.defra.gov.uk or www.letsrecycle.com.) This is the bare minimum of the kind of progressive thinking (and low-cost initiative) that we need to see coming from our governments. But the fact is that it is happening. I havn’t seen anything as straightforward as this coming on the recycling or zero waste fronts from either of the large federal election campaigns we’re seeing take place currently – though on the positive side of this, at least for our politicians, the environment is no longer a minor, “sidebar” issue, only mentioned at the end of a long list of priority promises. Finally.
Still, for all the positive progress being made, I can’t help but wonder what our grandchildren will think of us when they hear about what we “used to throw away.” As we turn our eyes down in nostalgic embarrassment, they’ll ask something like: “What’s a landfill, Grandpa?” And we’ll have to tell them.
If we take another large industry such as electronics manufacturing, big players like Sony, LG and HP are leading the way in product stewardship initiatives, and the fact is that others are being forced to follow in order to compete. In recent news, LG has joined Sony in being the only TV manufacturers to offer a free recycling program for old products. This comes in time to coincide with the tsunami of old TVs that have already started flooding our landfills (and developing countries) as the conversion to all-digital television approaches.
And then across the pond, where we can so often look for what may be coming to a town near you, an interesting little initiative is underway where local authorities and businesses can apply for the rights to set up one of five ‘Zero Waste Places’ around the UK. The locations will be set up with the goal of demonstrating best practices in waste management. Called the Defra Initiative (Defra is the UK’s Department for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs), the aim is to create cities, towns, communities or even just markets which “go as far as possible in reducing the environmental impact of waste.” The successful applicants will be required to strive towards zero waste and are also required to attract media coverage and popular support for the campaign. Successful applicants for the project would be charged with identifying barriers and finding solutions to reducing waste in their areas and are expected to report their findings back to Defra by spring of 2009. (Visit www.defra.gov.uk or www.letsrecycle.com.) This is the bare minimum of the kind of progressive thinking (and low-cost initiative) that we need to see coming from our governments. But the fact is that it is happening. I havn’t seen anything as straightforward as this coming on the recycling or zero waste fronts from either of the large federal election campaigns we’re seeing take place currently – though on the positive side of this, at least for our politicians, the environment is no longer a minor, “sidebar” issue, only mentioned at the end of a long list of priority promises. Finally.
Still, for all the positive progress being made, I can’t help but wonder what our grandchildren will think of us when they hear about what we “used to throw away.” As we turn our eyes down in nostalgic embarrassment, they’ll ask something like: “What’s a landfill, Grandpa?” And we’ll have to tell them.
Keith Barker
