Visit Sedgemoor Union for all your aural needs...
Nike joined baby killers Nestle and pollution creators BP and Shell by launching a new brand logo and some sustainable business initiatives this month. A new logo - the Nike "tick" surrounded by a cog-like oval which looks like the recycling sign - will brand all Nike products and services as part of a push to create sustainable practices - and increase profits.
Nike is attempting to address a number of issues with this initiative. Firstly, they're moving towards 100% organic cotton in all their products. Nike's program has evolved from 250,000 pounds of organic cotton in 1997 to 800,000 pounds in 1999 and 952,000 pounds in 2000. The program runs worldwide, starting with the goal of a minimum of 3% organically grown cotton in all Nike cotton apparel by 2010. They claim to be "actively exploring" the integration of 100% organic cotton products.
For another pilot program -Reuse-A-Shoe- recycled plastic bags were distributed to every Laguna Beach household on May 18 2000. The bags are designed to hold five to seven pairs of athletic shoes, rubber-banded together. On garbage days, residents put the shoe-filled bags out on the curb for pick-up. Once the shoes are collected, the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe program will sort, clean, cut and grind them up to create a material called Nike Grind.
"There's still value in product when people dispose of their shoes-either to other people or as Nike Grind, through Reuse-A-Shoe we have developed a market for our recycled material. The shoes are processed, materials separated and granulated into Nike Grind. Nike Grind is then used in athletic courts, tracks, fields and playground surfaces." Said a Nike spokesman. Which reminds US of an episode of The Simpsons where Mr. Burns starts recycling EVERYTHING into a green slime, which he sells as Burns' Patent-Brand Slime.
Nike has also decided to start producing PVC-free shoes, and (as if to take the piss) one of the first products to contain no PVC is -essentially- a pair of sandals!
Greenpeace toxins campaigner Mark Strutt said the launch of PVC-free shoes was a good first move for Nike. "It's a good step forward for the environment, for the concept of material substitution and particularly for the production of trainers that use PVC in the soles," he said. "But we do expect them to follow through with the rest of their range. They have a commitment to replace PVC. And we certainly always watch companies to make sure they are not doing something as a greenwash exercise."
At the end of last year, Nike produced a report addressing the child labour situation, "Our goal... is to continue to do everything we can to eradicate child labour in our contract factories, but we can be certain that cases will occur," the report states. Which pretty much sums it up for US... They're happy to produce more shit that could make them money, but they won't make sure those workers shouldn't be at school learning to read and write! And they're not going to pay descent wages to the adult workers either. Still, give them credit, it's a start.