You’ve probably heard of Design for the Environment (DfE), Sustainable
Product Design and Green Product Design. These synonymous terms fundamentally represent a
proactive business approach to addressing environmental
considerations in the earliest stages of the product
development process to minimize negative environmental
impacts throughout the product’s life cycle.Green product design can involve material
selection, resource use, production requirements and
planning for the final disposition of a product. Simply put, a methodology of
“reduce-reuse-recycle” or dispose. It’s not the only methodology but one that must
be integrated with a company’s product design process
or philosophy. This is extremely important so that environmental parameters
can be balanced with the traditional product attributes
such as quality, producibility, and functionality.Green products should be designed so that they
are easier to upgrade, disassemble, recycle and reuse than
their conventional counterparts. Use of fewer
materials and the ability to break down into replaceable modular
components are hallmarks of Green product design.
As with any new
business paradigms there are bound to be many who
proclaim their adherence to the Green design. This “Greenwashing” requires the end user to
do some research and start asking some tough questions. Questions asked should be whether the product has
recycled content, how to dispose of the product at the
end of its useful life, is the product truly sustainable
through modular design to reduce the frequency of
disposal and does the product use adhesives or other
materials that may give off volatile organic compounds
(VOCs)? * For more of these question visit Building Magazine’s
article library: http://www.buildings.com/Articles/detail.asp?ArticleID=1435
Samson’s Green Philosophy
Samson provides reusable plastic carts (trolleys) for
material handling as an alternative to plywood (or other
wood product) and metal carts. The Samson Cart
philosophy by its very nature eliminates plywood and
metal waste and promotes the concepts of reduce-reuse-recycle.
Even the Cart manufacturing process is an
environmentally friendly alternative to plywood.
Utilizing natural gas, the plastic manufacturing process
is so energy efficient that it actually uses less fossil
fuel per pound and emits significantly less airborne
pollutants than laminated wood production. Samson Carts
also saves our planet from emissions when considering
landfill gas emissions.
If all of that isn’t enough, using Samson Carts
significantly reduces diesel fuel emissions by reducing
the number of trucks on the road when used by moving
companies or when used as part of a “Returnable
Shipping Container” program.
Samson Carts have an estimated life span of 15+ years
during which 1 cart can potentially eliminate 12 wooden
carts (trolleys) from landfill waste. Given
the amount of wood materials in landfills, Samson
Carts can make a significant contribution to reducing
solid waste production. Additionally
Samson Carts are modular by design so that if a part is
damaged it can be replaced quickly without glues or
Samson products are made from 100% recyclable plastic (HDPE).
Broken or damaged carts can be returned to the factory
where they are recycled and used in the production of
new carts up to 10% recycled content. With its highly
efficient recycling program Samson ensures that once a
cart is produced its reuse capacity is almost infinite.
Every tree cut for the manufacture of plywood
ultimately ends up as solid waste or is incinerated.
Even if wood fiber does not reach the waste stream until
it has been used several times due to efficient
recycling, it does not solve the core problems of solid
waste and natural resource preservation.
Traditionally, environmentally friendly products have
come with a cost disincentive. Samson Carts however are
more cost effective to use than the alternative wooden
or metal carts (See Financial Analysis- http://www.samsoncarts.com/pdf/Samson
Carts Financial Analysis_m 803.pdf Using
Samson Carts can actually save up to 104% off the life
cycle cost of your equipment purchase and operations
with fewer repairs, less labor and fewer truckloads.
Samson is the perfect example of an innovative concept
that is cost-effective, more efficient and
environmentally responsible. Plastic products have been
used widely in Europe for over 35 years. Samson Carts
has pioneered the concept in the USA. At Samson Carts we
are committed not only to improving the material
handling process but also to improving our world.
When you’re concerned about saving time, money and the