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September
24 , 2003
(Globe and Mail)
Look who's driving
the green agenda
Auto workers are not generally
thought of as being in the vanguard of environmental protection.
So it's a surprise that the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW)
is proposing one of Canada's most promising revolutions in environmental
policy in years.
The CAW is calling on Canadian
governments to apply a policy called "extended producer responsibility"
to the auto industry. Also known as take-back legislation, this
policy holds manufacturers accountable for the goods that they
produce for the product's entire lifetime. This means that owners
can return vehicles to the manufacturer at the end of their useful
life. Instead of cars winding up in unsightly junkyards, landfills
or incinerators, their manufacturers would be obliged to take
them back.
The beauty of this concept
is that it provides manufacturers with a powerful incentive to
redesign their products so that they can be disassembled into
parts that are reused, remanufactured, or recycled. Ideally, all
vehicle parts will have some valuable future use, so far less
waste will enter landfills or incinerators, decreasing the burden
on municipalities and taxpayers. As well, hazardous materials
such as lead and polyvinyl chloride could be designed out of the
vehicle production process.
Another key benefit of take-back
legislation is that it results in the much more efficient use
of energy and resources through recycling and reuse. Take-back
laws generally require that 85 to 95 per cent of the weight of
products be recycled or reused.
By lobbying for take-back
legislation, the CAW is merely demonstrating enlightened self-interest.
The CAW envisions a vehicle disassembly plant beside every assembly
plant. Even if car sales decline in an environmentally friendly
future dominated by public transit, cyclists, pedestrians, and
tele-commuting, there would still be jobs for auto workers.
Extended producer-responsibility
legislation was first introduced in Germany in 1991; since then,
other nations including Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands
have followed suit, with the European Union passing a regional
directive in 2000. The results are impressive. Companies such
as Volvo, Mercedes and BMW have redesigned the vehicles they sell
in the European market in innovative ways, saving money, reducing
waste and creating additional jobs for auto workers. Some countries
have extended take-back laws to cover large home appliances, office
equipment, and electrical and electronic equipment.
Extended producer responsibility
is part of a new way of thinking about how goods and services
should be designed for a sustainable 21st-century economy. Almost
half of New Zealand's local governments have strategies aimed
at eliminating municipal waste by 2015. Toronto has made a similar
pledge. Innovative corporations like Ikea, Xerox, 3M, and Interface
Flooring are also embracing the concept of eliminating waste and
pollution.
Ikea wanted to increase
sales of its compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use 80 per
cent less energy than conventional bulbs and last eight to 10
times as long. But compact fluorescent bulbs use more mercury
than regular bulbs, and mercury can be environmentally harmful.
So Ikea encourages customers to return used bulbs to its stores.
Now 98 to 99 per cent of the mercury from the used bulbs is recovered
for new bulbs.
It is possible to envision
a future where all products are made of either substances that
can safely biodegrade (i.e. return to nature, and nourish the
soil) or be endlessly reused in our techno-industrial society.
In a sense, this means redesigning industrial economies to mimic
the genius of the natural world, where millions of years of evolution
(or as author Paul Hawken calls it, "design experience")
have resulted in waste-free systems.
Love them or hate them,
motor vehicles are with us for the long haul. But, as the CAW
recognizes, we can minimize their destructive impact. Bringing
extended producer-responsibility legislation to the auto industry
could lead to broader application across wide sectors of our economy.
Ottawa should move take-back legislation out of the showroom now
-- and onto the road for a test drive.
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