Environmental hug to Wal-Mart ironic
In the Dec. 12, Page 13 article ``Wal-Mart receives environmental praise,'' a woman from Oregon and her husband are said to have ``doubled back in their motor home to investigate'' and sought out the store manager to give him a great big hug for taking the time and investing the money to test various energy-saving practices in their store.
I hope many other Plastics News readers enjoyed the irony of this woman in her gas-guzzling motor home congratulating Wal-Mart for environmental practices.
Matt Norman
Slingshot Plastics Corp.
Lakeville, Minn.
Outdated rants miss PVC issue's real mark
What exactly is the news value of another lazy, cut-and-paste rant by Patrick Moore, this time discussing a review of phthalates that took place seven years ago? (``Activists would take kids' toys,'' Nov. 28, Page 6.)
Reading Moore, your subscribers might miss the point that most manufacturers of toys for the under 5 set long ago abandoned PVC.
Smart manufacturers evaluating phthalates and PVC might benefit from some more recent news. For example, this past October, B. Braun Medical Inc. bested rival medical device maker Baxter International, winning a five-year, $70 million contract to deliver PVC/di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate-free products demanded by Catholic Healthcare West, a system of 40 hospitals and medical centers serving California, Arizona, and Nevada.
The contract was ``driven by an institution's desire for conversion to PVC/DEHP-free products for the health and well-being of patients and the regional ecology,'' said Braun Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Caroll H. Neubauer. ``This partnership underscores the value of our long-standing commitment to human and environmental health, and reinforces the market demand for PVC/DEHP-free products.''
Bill Walsh
Healthy Building Network
Washington
When are we moving to metric system?
When are you going to convince all the tool shops to go 100 percent metric? And none of this slow English/metric conversion crap, I mean 100 percent metric.
This has been delayed for 15 years thanks to Congress. And they keep blaming the public, but let's get real. Corporations control Congress, and you fools keep pushing this globalization crap, but you are the same ones holding back converting to metric. Now ain't that a kick in the pants. It is your own downfall for not competing on the global market. Not one shop in Erie, Pa., is willing to do the deed; why are you dragging your feet?
It is pretty funny that American corporations are making products and selling them to the world, and want to compete in a globalized market, but are not willing to use 100 percent metric.
Think of the cost savings of not needing to buy two sets of hardware and tools.
Bruce Arkwright Jr.
Unemployed toolmaker
Erie, Pa.