Look who's driving the green
agenda
By DAVID
BOYD
The Globe
and Mail
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
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 telecommuting, 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,
and the
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
aimed at eliminating municipal waste by 2015.
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.
should move take-back legislation out of the showroom now --
and onto the
road for a test
drive.
David Richard Boyd is an environmental
lawyer, professor, and author of
Unnatural Law: Rethinking Canadian
Environmental Law and Policy.