Cory Sweitzer PAEP Reflection

Cory Sweitzer

Ethics and the Environment

Dr. Williams

10/2/13

PAEP Reflection Paper

The Burton Snowboard Company began in 1977 in the town of Londonderry, Vermont.  Creator and founder, Jake Burton Carpenter, wanted to create a new version of a snowboard that already existed, the snurfer, and began doing so in his own garage (“Burton…”).  What started out as just a passion, eventually became the biggest snowboard company in the industry.  Today, Burton Snowboards specializes in producing snowboards, bindings, boots, helmets, outerwear, and snowboard accessories. 

            When we were introduced to do this project I thought what better to pick a company that produces something that I love to do.  Choosing Burton was a no brainer because snowboarding is a passion of mine and luckily there is a Flagship Store and Factory right in town.  Getting a tour was probably the hardest part about this entire project.  I had emailed corporate Burton and their sustainability department for a few weeks to get a special tour before realizing they give free public tours every Tuesday and Thursday.  It was my friend Chris Dimarco, who let me know after I explained our groups concerns with the tour.  Getting the general tour of the Factory was something I will never forget.  It was very cool to see how the snowboards are made from beginning to end.

            Burton is the only snowboard company to have an SLS machine and 3D printer in their factory.  Our group watched as the lens and frame to a prototype goggle was being made right in front of our own eyes.  It is with these machines that Burton can prototype products, such as bindings, and bring them out to Stowe to test them out on the slopes.  This saves the cost of importing in prototype bindings from their factory in Austria. 

            There was also a spot in the factory dedicated to testing products made in the Burlington factory.  “The torture chamber” as our tour guide called it was a room devoted to seeing what limits the boards and bindings would go through before breaking.  Our group got to watch a 600-dollar snowboard be bent tip to tip until it exploded in the middle.  Seeing a company put so much into product testing was a really neat thing to witness. 

            Burton is the world’s largest producer of snowboarding products.  On their website they put sustainability at the forefront of all their concern.  However when getting a tour in the Burlington facilities, the only “green” thing we witnessed was that they reused the powder in the SLS machine and 3D printer.  Other than that everything seemed pretty “green-washed”.  It was my groups goal to determine whether Burton is green or green washing in regards to their ethics to the environment. 

            My friend Chris was able to give us information on their company’s portal site on a lot of concrete green things Burton is doing.  Burton Snowboards and Mountain Dew formed the Green Mountain Project in 2011 to focus on making sustainable apparel and outwear (Dimarco).  The GMP takes recycled plastic bottles and transforms them into pellets that can be spun into thread in order to make fabric.  The men and women outwear styles noted with the GMP logo are made with recycled plastics and/or eco materials wherever possible such as in shell fabrics, waterproof/breathable laminates, finishes, insulations, linings, shock cords, elastics, buttons, zipper pulls, labels and artwork applications (Dimarco).  In 2012 the Green Mountain Process also created 27 snowboards.  If a snowboard is marked with the GMP logo Burton has infused recycled plastic, metal, and manufacturing waste into the topsheets, bases, edges, sidewalls, or their patented channel plug (Dimarco).  Burton has also supported POW, Protect our Winters, which is a group focused on trying to eliminate climate change. 

            Now Burton certainly does a lot of things that are green but many things listed on their website seemed a little wishy washy.  In effort to reduce employee’s carbon footprint, Burton promotes alternative transportation to and from work.  They offer free CCTA bus passes to all employees and also have preferred parking closer to the main entrance of the building for people who carpool (“Burton…”).   However, when our group was on site, the parking lot couldn’t have been more full of cars.  They also have a “green kitchen” which means they have plates and silverware available for employee use.  Burton boasts about a community garden in which employees participate in harvesting their own food but only 6% of the company uses the garden and it was very tiny and tucked on the end of the building (“Burton…”). 

            I’m not trying to sit here and bash Burton as a company.  However I am here to say that Burton may not be as green as they promote themselves to be.  A majority of “green” things they pride themselves on seem insignificant and unrelated to the production of physical products.  Our groups final consensus was that Burton is one of the more green companies within the snowboarding industry and is on their way to being as green as they’d like to promote themselves to be. 

            Even though Burton may not have been as green as we would like and our project may seem very different from all the other groups, I’m very happy to have looked into this.  Snowboarding is a passion of mine so doing this project was a real treat.  I feel fortunate that Burton is located a mile away from Champlain and that my friend was able to give us inside company information.  This project was very educational and fun at the same time.  Everyone in our group was a contributing member and we were able to efficiently schedule times to meet and complete the project.  I’m also happy that Andrew had skills in Photoshop to make our PAEP poster look “professional”.  This project was a great learning experience and taught me skills for I had to reach out to a company and couldn’t just rely on the Internet or a book for a source.  I’m looking forward to sharing with the class what we found when we really analyzed Burton’s sustainability.     

   

Citations

"Burton Snowboards | History." Burton Snowboards. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.      <http://www.burton.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Burton_US-     Site/default/Company-History>.

Dimarco, Chris. "Burton Sustainability." Burton Snowboard Company, n.d. Web.         <http://boardpress.burton.com/departments/what-we-already-do>.