Scraponomics Episode 78 - Our Hubcap Fence and the Flexibility to Evolve

“You must always be able to predict what's next and then have the flexibility to evolve.” — Marc Benioff, founder, chairman, and CEO of salesforce.com

If you’ve been to Friedland in Old Town, you’ve probably noticed our hubcap-decorated fence. It’s become a landmark of sorts. The hubcaps are painted by people who visit us during Be A Tourist In Your Own Town. It’s fun every year!

Here’s the thing. We ran out of hubcaps! As a result, for this year’s Be A Tourist In Your Own Town, we’ll be switching gears to more of an educational activity for kids about the various commodities we process for recycling.

It got me thinking about how scrap evolves as society evolves. Hubcaps, which at one point were a highly valued detail on vehicles, weren’t produced as much when automotive manufacturers began to make all aluminum wheels. In the 1980s and 1990s, Friedland still saw hubcaps come in as scrap, but practically never today.

Another interesting commodity that isn’t around anymore is what we called IBM Cards. They were the paper punch cards that were used with old computers. It was the highest grade of paper at the time, too. So it was a sad day when IBM Cards became obsolete.

However, as one commodity goes extinct, another tends to take its place. Like the IBM Cards, newspaper seems to currently be in a transformation period. Now, people tend to read news articles online, rather than from a hard copy newspaper. Since there is less of a demand for the hard copy, newspapers have become thinner. But while newspaper is experiencing a decrease in demand, electronics, which we use to view article online and that can also be processed as scrap for recycling, are increasing in demand.

At Friedland, we have an understanding that as scrap evolves, so must we. But it doesn’t mean we can’t make art that lasts forever, so any time you stop by to see us, you can count on seeing our hubcap fence.

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