Everywhere we turn these days, someone is jumping on the green bandwagon, claiming that their products are Earth friendly and yet there is still far too much waste that finds its way into the local dump. Too often manufacturers fail to see that scrap can be used. When scrap is used we can call it being quasi-green meaning that we leave a minimal carbon footprint or unnecessarily use natural resources.

 

Have you recently taken a look at kitchen utensil displays either online or in local stores? Bins and racks filled with plastic and other synthetics that are far from green. (Plastic is made from oil.) Take a look in your own kitchen. What is the ratio between plastic and renewable materials such as wood? Why are these utensils being bought so readily? Is it fashion? Ease of cleaning? There’s nothing else available? A large part of the reason why we see so many plastic utensils is that almost all of these utensils are manufactured in China, cheaply. Many have their production off-shore because there is a far higher profit than if they were to be made in the U.S.A. (See our earlier blog “Oven Claw: Made in the U.S.A.)

 

If these companies would just look around, they’d see that there is another way. Ages ago, when I was kid it was common to watch workers tear down old buildings board by board and stack the wood in piles. This scrap lumber would be used to build new structures. This is in stark contrast to today when bulldozers crush everything and large trucks haul the remains to the dump. During those early days people especially in the lower middle class used every scrap of various materials around the house. For instance, my mother saved bacon, steak and other drippings left after cooking. She used this grease to make bars of soap that for the most part she used for washing clothes. Every scrap of cloth gleaned from making our shirts was saved and eventually used to make warm quilts. There were many such examples of this kind of utilization in not only our household but others as well. There was very little waste. Reports indicate that since the early 1990s more and more companies are trying to use scrap instead of using only new materials. At the same time people purchasing products strongly prefer new materials and shun used.

 

What does all of this have to do with the Oven Claw? As we build out our market, we will use more and more recycled wood and ensure that our manufacturers use every scrap. As it stands at the moment, our manufacturer does not waste any part of the tree. In this way the Oven Claw is not what one normally thinks of as a green product but it is more akin to what I saw as I grew up; using every scrap possible. Why not change your buying habits and reject plastics? Use wood products in your kitchen and save our natural resources.

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