Dansko's Professional Clogs Go PVC-free
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 07.29.05
Known the world over for their ultra-comfortable shoes, Dansko has given TreeHuggers something to smile about. Their Professional line of clogs, pictured here, were, until recently, made with bad-boy plastic polyvinyl chloride (better known to some of us as PVC; we've mentioned it's unpleasantness before). The good folks at Dansko have changed their minds about using PVC, thankfully, and have replaced the inner frame of their popular clogs with polypropylene. The clog, the footwear choice of many doctors, nurses, chefs and other people who spend their professional lives on their feet, carries the "Seal of Acceptance from the American Podiatric Medical Association. ::Dansko
If a vinyl window cuts energy use dramatically and is affordable for inner city flat owners to inistall, does that mean its bad if it can't be recycled with other plastics. Lets face it. Vinyl is specified because its the cheapest long lasting plastic available. A material substitution occurs when the market demands it. However, it fallacious to assume few examples represent all situations, per the winidow example. A cogent arguement can be made that over the product life cycle of the vinyl window it is a net environmettnal postive. See the post "look out any window" on TH for details on this concept.
The "this product is bad" reasoning is risky in any product dimension: e.g. arguing that hybird cars are "bad" because they will create tons of battery waste; are not as clean as fuel cells; and don't "pay back" the incremental cost in fuel savings over the average ownership period is also a falacious line of thought.