|
Definitions and further
New
old stock (NOS) is merchandise that has been sitting on the shelve past the
point that it can typically sold to its intended market. For example, most
of the 8" floppies that we use are purchased from warehouses where they
have been sitting for decades, and these floppies are no longer used for storing
data.
Green washing is when a company relies on
marketing gimmicks claiming that they or their products are green instead of pursing
business practices that will actually alleviate the burden that we are placing
on the earth.
Much of our economy involves shipping goods
from half way around the world which takes a great deal more energy than
does transporting locally produced items to the market. This gets into
difficult ethical terrain of the environment vs. economic justice.
Don't people in China need jobs too? Yes,
especially if it is a safe job and they are paid a living wage. Of course,
people who make Fair Trade products are usually treated and paid well.
However, it takes a great deal of energy to ship to the United States and Canada
from Fair Trade artisans, and thus their environmental benefits are less
certain. This is not meant to be critical of Fair Trade. They have
done wonderful things to alleviate economic injustice in developing countries,
and we admire their success at addressing this important problem. Mostly,
this discussion is to point out that addressing economic injustice in developing
countries is not our business model.
Feedstock recycling is what is
traditionally viewed as recycling, and is where a materials (such as glass,
plastics, metals or paper) are taken out of the waste stream and melted or
chemically broken down (glass, plastic, or metal) feedstock or paper pulp that
is made into new products. These processes typically use a substantial amount of energy to melt and/or
process the used materials into recycled feedstock that can be made
into a new consumer product.
Feedstock recycling typically
requires a considerable amount of energy for transportation. Why?
Equipment is often expensive for this type of recycling, and thus large
quantities must be recycled if the process is to be profitable. Typically
only centralized recycling facilities can provide these large quantities, which
requires that materials are shipped long distances to central
distribution hubs and then shipped even farther to the centralized recycling
facilities.
Mechanical recycling is recycling that
does not primarily rely on heat or chemical processes to alter materials from
the waste stream into new products. Instead products are physically
altered (e.g., through cutting, drilling, punching, or bending) to make new
products or components of new products. Much less energy is required for
mechanical recycling relative the heat/chemical intensive processes of feedstock
recycling, and mechanical recycling can usually be done on a small scale that
does not require long-distance shipping to centralized facilities.
Typically, when mechanical
recycling is used the initial materials
can be easily recognized in the new products such as covers on the floppy disk
journals can be easily recognized as floppy disks.
| 