Corporate Environmental Responsibility

[Droogs]

Just had an email come in from Rutlands, seem fine at first a load of brushes for staining and finishing etc. As part of the blurb in the advert they had this:
"They are excellent for applying stains, paint and glue and they are economical enough to throw away after one use"

Now i have bought plenty enough from them and despite a lot of negitive press on here regarding service have never had a problem. However, having the above as your main selling point considering the age we live in is just not on. I have written to them and unsubscribed from their email list and will probably not use them for the foreseable future until satisfied they are mending their ways

 

[Mike Jordan]

Many of the brushes I use are years old and are carefully cleaned after use, but if you add the time taken and solvents used its near impossible to justify the financial cost against the cost of a cheap throw away item.
If you are running a commercial operation I estimate that it costs about £5 to make a decent job of cleaning a small brush.
On the same theme I, and most other tradesmen, have given up sharpening handsaws, I still sharpen my tenon saw and Gents saw and am the proud owner of a sharp but unused Disston 22" panel saw.
Any work that calls for a panel saw is done with a Stanley Jet Cut hard edge saw, wonderfully sharp and durable but ultimately disposable! I make more than the replacement cost by working during the time it would take to sharpen the Disston.
About 25 years back I tried to buy a Disston for my son who was starting an apprenticeship, my friend at the ironmongers fell about laughing and told me that they didn't sell them any longer since saw sharpening was largely a lost art.
Mike.

 

[Lazurus]

Better disposable wood and hair than plastic brushes. Poor wording maybe but very true in todays society, I think boycotting the site is a little harsh as they are a good firm one mistake (subjective) is minor compared to some.

 

[Droogs]

its not the biodegradableness ( :? ) of the item but the attitude. It displays a corporate disregard in a general sense to environmental needs. With regard to it's cheaper to replace than care for, for you that maybe but for your offspring, well lets hope they don't have the same opinion regarding you in your dotage, but then they will probably be too busy trying to find decent food for themselves and earning enough to buy a clean air filtration system to make sure their kids can breathe

 

[Mike Jordan]

We are all contributing to pollution in various ways, it seems futile to pillory one tool supplier for stating an obvious truth. Do you run a vehicle or holliday in other lands using air travel? If you haven't experienced the smogs of the 50s and 60s when just about every home burnt coal, then talk of breathing problems caused by pollution is nothing like the disaster it was. It would be more realistic to boycott goods made in China. A major coal burner who's goods we buy at ridiculously low cost at detriment to our own industries, trades, and crafts. Yes I have household items and a machine made in China, some regrettably with British labels on. To me the real guilty parties are those who advertise that something is "assembled in our workshops"when it's really made in another country and sent as a flat pack, five minutes out of the container it's ready for sale.

 

[Rorschach]

How do you know that it is not more environmentally friendly to throw it away? The solvents required to clean the brush could be much more damaging and resource intensive to produce than the brush itself.

 

[rafezetter]

its not the biodegradableness ( :? ) of the item but the attitude. It displays a corporate disregard in a general sense to environmental needs. With regard to it's cheaper to replace than care for, for you that maybe but for your offspring, well lets hope they don't have the same opinion regarding you in your dotage, but then they will probably be too busy trying to find decent food for themselves and earning enough to buy a clean air filtration system to make sure their kids can breathe

Ahh but here's the thing Droogs - you cannot know for sure that Rutlands buyers didn't make efforts to find cheap, throw away but BIODEGRABLE set of brushes over say plastic handled versions.

I've been using cheap PLASTIC HANDLED poundshop sets of brushes for such tasks where cleanup after is a PITA or impossible** - £1 for 5 - who is being worse? Me, a guy who uses them and then breaks off the handles and puts it in "recycling" (that everyone knows doesn't GET recycled) or a guy that buys these wooden handled brushes from Rutlands?

Answer is pretty simple.

If you punish Rutlands for offering a biodegradable brush - whether it was a deliberate choice or not - if said choice for another product comes their way what do you think they will choose? The biodegradable version that costs 5p more each or the non biodegradable version? When too many people buy on price rather than the environmental cost which set of brushes will sell more?

Currently 72 brushes for £19.95 NOT inc delivery (b1g1f) compared to 100 plastic ones for the same money seems like an easy choice for those environmentally conscious - but for the those who aren't, it's also an easy choice - but the other way around.

Add 5p EACH to the wooden cost and you've got £21.60 (+ postage) - not a lot of difference, but going by ebay, even 1p difference seems to make people choose one vendor over another.

What Mike J said is true, and granted it's not the ideal by any means and certainly such wastefulness needs to be addressed - maybe if all disposable saws had wooden handles instead of plastic - fact remains for many workers around the world time is money, and even saving 30 minutes not sharpening a saw, makes a difference.

Personally I've had no issues with Rutlands so far, I've bought a reasonable amount from them (and they fixed my only issue to date, sending a replacement within 2 days), so I think trying to hang this particular issue on their front door is a mistake in comparison to other companies.

And now you've made me think about it properly, I think I'm going to order a set of the wooden ones and STOP using the plastic ones.

Rather than a stern letter about their wastefulness - maybe a congratulatory one is in order to commend them on offering BIODEGRADABLE brushes, even if it was an accidental choice by their buyers you'll lodge that thought in their heads (hopefully) and add a factor into their decision making if it doesn't exist already, which again you have no proof it doesn't.

If they are smart they might even add "biodegradable" to the advertising blurb - I know I would if I was them.

Something to think about eh?

** by the way - I clean up a LOT of brushes - my housemate Dave the builder throws away ALL brushes even after using waterbased paint - but good for me he brings said brushes home to throw away, I grab them and sit them in a strong solution of BIO washing powder for a while (it's the enzymes.. )- oilbased brushes that have been left to go hard take weeks sometimes - but all of them can be revitalised.

Sometimes I give them back to him, sometimes I don't . Consequently I've got a drawerfull of various brushes, even some nice Harris ones - need one?