Christopher Pazden
Dr. Williams
COR 230
30 November 2013
Individual
Reflection
Snowboarding is a sport that requires many different
types of gear needed to participate, such gear includes: boards, bindings,
boots and outerwear. Manufacturing these different types of gear on such a
large scale can negatively affect the environment; however companies like
Burton are trying to reduce the effects that go into the manufacturing process
by using more sustainable practices. Burton was one of the first snowboard
companies in the world and is often recognized as the leading company on the
snowboarding market. Jake Burton Carpenter started Burton Snowboards in 1977 in
Stratton, Vermont, where he started to make his own snowboards in a wood shop.
Jake Burton was inspired to make his own boards when he saw Sherman Poppen’s “snurfer”
board and thought he could modify it. The “snurfer” board was two skis bound
together with rope at the top that the rider could hold on to. Burton was
successful in modifying the “snurfer” board and because of that he started what
would eventually be the biggest snowboarding company in the world. (Burton)
Today, Burton’s factory is based in Burlington, Vermont
and my group and I were lucky enough to receive a tour of the factory. At first
it was a bit difficult to get a tour at the factory, but because Cory has a
friend who works there, we were able to get in and Cory’s friend also gave us some
sustainability facts that we weren’t able to find on the Burton website. The
Burton factory was full of all different types of machines and technologies
that performed various functions throughout different stages of the manufacturing
process. The two machines that impressed me the most were the 3-D printer and
the SLS machine. The 3-D printer allows Burton to make plastic molds of a
bindings, boots and optics. In just a few hours, the research & development
team can print a binding to further the manufacturing process. The second
machine is the SLS machine, and it also makes parts quickly. The SLS machine
works by using a high power laser to fuse small particles of plastic, metal ceramic,
or glass powders into a desired three-dimensional shape. The laser selectively
fuses powdered material by scanning cross-sections generated from a 3-D digital
description of the part on the surface of a powder bed. After each
cross-section is scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one layer thickness, a
new layer of material is applied on top, and the process is repeated until the
part is completed. Burton re-uses the left over powders from the SLS machine to
continuing making other parts. (Ober)
Because Burton is recognized as the leader of snowboards,
their constantly producing snowboarding gear, which can have negative effects
on the environment. Burton has a whole sustainability section on their website
in which they show how “green” they are being by introducing different programs
that helps the environment. My group thought it would be a good idea to see
exactly how “green” they actually are and to find out if they were just “green-washing”.
Going into the factory I thought that Burton would be more of a “green-wash” than
actually “green”. I wasn’t completely wrong, but I wasn’t right either. Burton
has many truly green programs such as their “Protect Our Winters” campaign. The
POW campaign focuses on “building awareness and taking action against global
warming in the snowboard community through social media campaigns, global team
rider activation and events.” (Burton) Burton actually does do this activity
and they take it pretty seriously. Another “green” program that Burton does is
the “Green Mountain Process” where Burton tries to incorporate eco-friendly decisions
where ever possible. Cory’s friend at the company was able to give us some
information not seen on the website and with this information I was able to see
that Burton has stuck to their word on the GMP. In the past year they were able
to produce topsheets with 20-30% recycled content, sintered bases with 20%
recycled content, extruded bases with 40% recycled content, stainless steel
edges with 90% recycled content. Burton’s use of recycled metal edges saved
41,834 pounds of waste from the landfill. After seeing a few of the programs
that actual help the environment, I was able to see some of the programs that
are more of a “green-wash”. Such programs include Burton’s “Organic Garden
Plots” Burton offers their employee’s a little plot of land at the factory to
grow a garden. It is a nice gesture, however when we toured the factory these
plots were not as big as they were made out to be and it did not look like they
were getting much use. Another program that Burton is more of a “green-wash” on
is the “Waste Reduction” or as we would refer to them in our group as “Trash
Parties”. Burton offers 18 composting and recycling stations throughout their
global headquarters. Burton’s goal is to inspire employees to create less waste
by being a waste-free building. They will host regular “Trash Sort” events in
which Burton will secretly save employee trash, and then have their employees
sort through all of it to determine their progress toward being waste-free. We
looked at this as more of a green wash than as something that is actually
helping the environment.
I was wrong to think that Burton would be a complete
green-wash, because they do actually have some very good programs in place that
do help the environment. There are certain programs though that are not really
helping and are only there to make Burton look good. In my group we discussed
how we did not want to attack Burton, because they are putting forth an effort
to help. It may not be a huge contribution, but they show that they care more
than most companies do. In terms of how Burton makes their decisions, they are
a company and their ultimate goal is to make money, sometimes decisions made in
order to make money are not always ethical, but I believe that Burton operates
in a way that allows them to be profitable and also allows them to put forth an
effort to help the environment.
I was interested in this project from the start; I really
liked the idea of going to tour the Burton factory and thought they would be
more interesting than other ideas that were thrown around. When we decided to
do Burton and saw that they had a sustainability page on their website we all
knew that the green vs. green-washed idea for our project was going to be our
focus. My group for this project was also great, I’m thankful that I got the
group that I got because I felt that when we all got together for a meeting we
were all focused and that made getting the work done a lot easier. Organizing a
trip to the factory or getting sustainability information was a hassle at
first, but Cory’s friend really came through for us and helped us get
everything we needed in order to make this PAEP project happen.
In conclusion Burton Snowboards is green, but they arent
as green as they seem. They do have some great programs in place and they also
have some green-washed programs. However they are doing more than most
companies and their attempts at doing a good deed is appreciated. As far as
this PAEP project goes I’m very happy with the way it turned out and couldn’t
have asked for a better group to help me throughout the process. I can’t wait
to see what our poster looks like in full size when it is done printing. I just
only hope now that our presentation will go as smooth as every other aspect of this
project.
Work
Cited:
Burton.
"Sustainability | Burton Snowboards." Burton Snowboards. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
Ober, Lauren.
"Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice." Craig's Place.
N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
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