Time For Recalibration
by Marian Hopkins, Business Roundtable on 04. 7.08
We separate whites and colors when doing laundry. We store frozen food in the freezer and everything else in the pantry or refrigerator. To recycle, we know plastics must be separated from glass, which must be separated from newspapers. We know “waste” goes in a dumpster, which eventually ends up in a landfill. However, what if the items discarded into the dumpster had more life? What if we redefined “waste,” and moreover, what we did with all of our left-over “stuff?”
There are examples around the world of people recalibrating the definition of “waste.” In the United States, Freegans “dumpster dive” for their food and other disposed consumer items. Even further along the spectrum, Dharavi slum dwellers in Mumbai, India take recycling to a whole new level by scouring the local dumps for even the smallest item that can be reused or resold. Some are rebelling against a consumer-driven, wasteful society, whereas others struggle to make a living in a society that provides little other opportunities. Both have adjusted what society defines as waste.
While many efforts are underway to steer America away from its wasteful ways, we still have a long road ahead of us. In 1960, Americans recycled just six percent of all consumer goods. Today, we recycle about 31 percent.
Businesses are expected to adhere to the same practices, particularly given the amount of recyclable goods and waste streaming from daily operations. While operations to implement and advance programs to reduce, reuse, and recycle have proliferated; a key component of sustainable growth will be to recalibrate how we define and what we do with waste.
Business Roundtable members are realizing not only the cost-savings, but the earnings potential by moving away from a “throw it away” to a “use it again” society. Coined as “advanced recycling” or “remanufacturing,” Business Roundtable member companies such as Caterpillar are at the forefront of new business operations and approaches that demonstrate how sustainable practices can positively impact the environment and their business.
A leading global company, Caterpillar is committed to driving positive and sustainable change around the world. For more than 30 years, their remanufacturing division, Cat Reman has demonstrated how remanufacturing and environmental responsibility leads to profitability and positive change.
Integrating business with the environment, their proprietary technology, and salvage and cleaning techniques, Cat Reman uses a core exchange program to remanufacture used Caterpillar engines and components for a second and third life; thereby relying less on raw materials and sending less waste to landfills. As Caterpillar supports inverse manufacturing - an engineering practice of designing for maximum potential - all products are made to be remanufactured. Caterpillar also works to engage and educate governments and other agencies worldwide on the difference between remanufactured and used products. They constantly look to their own processes to identify areas for improvement when it comes to recalibrating waste.
For example, Caterpillar has implemented aggressive recycling initiatives for all waste streams—including wood pallets, cardboard, and other packaging materials. As a result, waste streams have been minimized to the point that the company’s Mississippi facilities are virtually “zero landfill” operations. In fact, the only solid waste sent to the landfill from the Mississippi remanufacturing facilities comes from the employee cafeteria — not the factory.
By focusing on total lifecycle management, Caterpillar is a strong example of a business thriving in a sustainable market. Business Roundtable supports innovative efforts like advanced recycling and encourages members, other businesses and consumers to recalibrate their definition of waste. Action-oriented practices like these will maintain our economic advantage and create a sustainable future.
See, now this here is something smart. Landfills are the dumbest thing i've heard of, especially when half the stuff in them could take millions - MILLIONS - of years to decompose. UM, HELLO!! Wake up and smell the CO2! We are destroying ourselves, and do we care? Not a bit. We're all gonna die eventually....
Is this a press release?
This is good news, but just on this case, it worries me that it is possible that they're remanufacturing older, and possibly less efficent engines compared to new ones. Reusing is great, but if you're reusing inefficent technology, there might be a net loss in energy savings. I might be wrong, but it's certainly plausable.
I hate throwing anything away. My husband hates it that I save so much stuff. But then three weeks later, he asks me for the thing he wanted me to throw out. So, I fight him tooth and nail about throwing stuff out. Hey, you never know when you'll need it.
But what bothers me about some people is...they don't even bother to recycle. I have a big bag of plastics, glass and tins out there and my next door neighbor doesn't put anything out to recyle.
I even recycle my tea bag wrappers in with my newspapers. I take the wrappers off of all my cans and bottles. Eveyone else on the block has a bag of stuff out in front of their houses. It just makes me so mad that my neighbor could be recycling but isn't cause they're just lazy bums!
I think that it is great that CAT has the reiman to recycle old engines, but I think this article is missing the point in doing this. It is not only to recycle but to produce a cheaper 'fix' for an older tracker that might just have a bad engine. An old lady doesn't get a new boob job, does she? It would just be out of place. But there is a decision to be made from the consumer. Is it better to buy a brand new car that is more effeicent and will last for several years, or to go with the used car because it is cheaper, even though it might be less dependable? I believe that the objective to restore old engines is to give the consumer this decision and option. It makes them happier. The way of recycling is just a plus in the CAT environment.
I work for the company in this article. We continually look for ways to reinvent our processes for improvement. We also incorporate the latest technologies in our remanufacturing. We focus on sustanibility and look for ways to improve what we are doing in this area. I am proud to be an employee of Caterpillar and to promote sustanibility.
Old remanufactured engines might be less fuel efficient than new engines. Say, 20 gal per day for an old engine vs. possibly 18 or even 17 gal. per day for a new machine with a new engine, but that isn't the only energy use to consider. Think of all of the energy initially expended to produce the machine that the new engine will go into. In the entire lifetime of a new machine, you might not realize enough fuel savings to offest the energy usage that went into producing the machine. Even if the entire old machine were recycled (and it won't be. Tires, wires, hoses, glass, seals, and gaskets will be thrown away) the energy required to process the old materials into pop cans and razor blades is still wasteful when you consider that the market created for a new machine by throwing away the old machine will drive the expenditure of machine creation energy.