Scraponomics Episode: Earth Day 2015 - Full Circle

“The wheel is come full circle.” — William Shakespeare

At Friedland, we tell people all the time, Everyday is Earth Day. And, it’s true. We take pride in playing a unique role that continuously benefits the economy and the environment, and have done so for over a century.

Nevertheless, we still enjoy taking a day to pause and reflect about the Earth and its importance. Now, Earth Day seems to be celebrated throughout the month of April, which we think is great because it goes hand in hand with things like spring cleaning, which also resembles a fresh start and mental clarity.

People are starting to make this connection, too; that really, when it comes to preserving our Earth’s natural resources through recycling, there’s a lot more involved than the three-arrowed triangle symbol that we’re all familiar with. Really, the process is more of a circle, and it works because the materials we’re recycling have value; a future purpose. And, in the middle of that circle is you, the consumer.

You see, ultimately, the consumer decides what lives and what dies. The fact that you have a need to buy a new stove, for example, provides the demand for a manufacturer to buy the newly re-melted steel from a mill or refinery. This provides the demand for that mill or refinery to buy the scrap-processed material from places like Friedland, which gives us the demand to buy scrap material from the public, like old stoves. This enables you to have a means of recycling your old stove, rather than throwing it away. So in reality, there are many times when you’re helping preserve the Earth’s natural resources throughout the year, perhaps, without even realizing it!

Indeed, our society seems to consume a lot, and there are plenty of ways in which we could improve the way we consume. But we preserve a lot as well, as the wheel of recycling continues to come full circle.

Happy Earth Day from everyone at Friedland. :)

#EarthDay #EarthDay2015 #Scraponomics #Economics #ScrapProcessing #ScrapRecycling #CommodityProcessing #TheEconomicsOfRecycling #1320WILS #FriedlandIndustries #BeGreenGetGreen #RecycleLansing #LoveLansing #ILoveOldTown #OldTownLansing