Burt’s Bees Goes Dumpster Diving
Natural Beeswax product manufacturer Burt’s Bees recently gave their employees hazmat suits and had them jump into two weeks’ worth of company trash. What some people will do to keep their job…
Actually, what they found was surprising. When the clouds of dirt and dust cleared, they had found recyclables that will total $25,000 in annual savings for the company. Burt’s Bee has “zero waste to landfills” by 2020 goal, and over the last several months they’ve gone from 40 tons of waste per month down to just 10 tons per month, according to president and CEO John Replogle.
And what better way to get closer to that goal than dumping the garbage from the past two weeks into the company’s parking lot and having employees sort through it? Actually, this exercise has helped employees be more accountable for the things they’re throwing away, something that a memo couldn’t possibly achieve. They’ve also done other green-related activities to drive the message home, and employees who are repeat recycling offenders face disciplinary action.
Very green, very practical, very environmentally conscious, very good, very right, very economical, very sensible, very smart, very atypical of Americans and an important step towards the post (GRD) great republican depression realities. The small scale belies the true value of the exercise! As Obama does the same thing to the whole American system, our culture will twist, bend and metamorphose under the economic pressures forced ahead by the GRD and its economic vise on our very souls. The “American Dream” will be re-defined, the American lifestyle reshaped and reformed, We will have Universal health care and at the expense of the rabid capitalist rapists of the republican persuasion who fight to maintain the status quo because it profits them the most! Change is most certainly coming to America, force on by the powers of the GRD and sustained by millions of Americans who want a fair deal! Dig in the dumpsters, go to the landfills, stop nuclear wastes, control pollution of our environment and be prepared to enjoy a better life once the shylocks are ousted from power! We are counting the days, we are counting the hours! Soon folks, very soon!
The hazmat suits are probably needed because they are now owned by CLOROX.
Recycling and reducing waste are noble and praiseworthy goals. I agree very much that we need to do everything we can to limit our use - and abuse - of nature’s resources. I always appreciate a company that is willing to put its money where its P.R. is. Far too many companies today are striving to cultivate a green persona without taking any significant action.
Having said that, I think environmental concerns are generally overrated today. Environmentalism has become the new religion of the 21st century, and self-proclaimed experts like Al Gore have become its high priests.
Once these “experts” have a) conclusively proven a link between mankind’s activities and global warming, and b) proven that the current global warming observed is anything more than a normal cyclical change in our climate, then perhaps we can enact laws that will take us back to the stone age.
As a self-identifying “rabid capitalist”, I wonder how long until the sparkle wears off Saint Obama’s crown. Pin your hopes on him if you wish, but I will remain cynical until I actually see a greener, safer, and more prosperous world take shape under his leadership. I maintain the view that this man will not solve the world’s problems (nor will any other) because self-serving greedy mankind is himself the problem.
All this adulation for Obama as something akin to a new messiah is sounding somewhat similar to the “peace and love” movement of the sixties. And when the euphoria finally wears off, the disillusionment will probably be a great deal worse than it was then.
I found your mention of universal health care a bit too much. Is that really the highest ideal you can imagine for your little utopia?
My own mother in Canada was a ten-year “beneficiary” of a universal health care system that failed her miserably. She often had to drive to other provinces - or even the U.S. - to pay out-of-pocket for critical tests and treatment that she desperately needed because the waiting list was months long in her home province. She finally passed away of breast cancer at age 56 because overworked physicians fumbled her file, botched her tests, and bungled her diagnoses. This continued repeatedly over the course of at least three years. Her illness was diagnosed early and she stood to make a full recovery if the system had provided the correct care in a timely fashion.
My point? In Canada, a patient is just another name on a form. In the U.S., a patient is a paying customer. Health care is America’s number one industry, and I suggest it should stay that way, because the banking and auto industry sure as hell won’t put bread on the table.
Want universal health care? Go out and get a job with benefits that include health insurance! No jobs available? Perhaps we’d better remove some restrictions from those high-emission industries like coal, gas, oil, transportation, mining, and (gasp) even auto making.
I do support “safety net” public health care for those who are disabled, unemployed, etc. But corporate American should pay for working America’s health care.
Frankly, I think things are heading in a very wrong direction. Not to rain on your party - by all means, you have the right to pursue happiness, whatever you perceive it to be. But I reserve the right to say, “I told you so” in a few years’ time.
Forgive me if I sound bitter, but I suppose I really am. Allow this comment to stand if you dare; my money says you probably won’t.
More companies and even individuals at home could learn a great deal from Burt’s Bees. Recycling isn’t that hard to keep up with and can become very profitable if you organize it properly.
Rabid Capitalist,
I’m assuming from your final sentence that your comments often aren’t approved at websites. Here’s why: You’re ranting about something TOTALLY unrelated to my post. There’s not a single mention of universal health care in this post - you’re talking about a passing comment made by another commenter over a month ago. Address him, not me.
No, I have never had a comment removed from any website. However, I don’t often post on websites advancing viewpoints so extremely disparate from my own.
My comments about environmentalism are directed at your original post. My comments about universal health care are directed at the post by Uncle B. The age if this post is completely irrelevant as long as it remains a part of the World Wide Web. I found its content so misguided and inflammatory that I was compelled to fire back with both barrels, as it were.