are environmentally friendly???
I am very confused why anyone would claim that any product made of plastic is eco-friendly. Why is Herman Miller making this claim? All plastics, including the polypropylene shells that Herman Miller sells, begin with the raw material of crude oil. This oil is drilled from the ground, transported to a refinery and processed into various forms, then transported again to a factory to be made into plastic, then transported again to the end user. There is an enormous amount of energy used in processing the crude oil to be made into a plastic material. Drilling oil out of the ground is not eco-friendly. It results in spills every year with incredible ecological damage.
Thus, I don't believe Herman Miller's claim that they switched from fiberglass shells on their Eames chairs to polypropylene as it is more environmentally friendly, because this is not a logical argument. I would believe however, that they did it because it was faster and cheaper and would make them more profit... To see a short animation video on how crude oil is made into plastic, go to http://www.totalpetrochemicalsusa.com/flash/WellheadToPlastics.swf
http://www.totalpetrochemicalsusa.com/flash/WellheadToPlastics.swf
Business at Modernica?
How's business at Modernica? I would have no idea. I don't work there. What I am getting at is that just because a big company (like Herman Miller) sells a product by a designer such as Charles Eames doesn't mean that you should believe everything they tell you in their marketing hype. They are a huge international corporate enterprise and their goal is to make a profit.
Modernica's fiberglass shells are not environmentally friendly either. So, it all comes down to a personal choice of which aesthetic you like the most because neither are good for the environment. If you really want something that is good for the environment, go with sustainably grown woods or bamboo or something like that... Plastic of any kind is not eco-friendly.
http://www.accurato.com
Why? Because....
Why? Because polypropylene is easily recycled.
And yes, I know that Modernica's propaganda says that fiberglass can be "recycled", too, by crushing it up and mixing it with new resin... But of course fiberglass reused that way doesn't look the same and wouldn't be suitable for something like, say, an Eames shell.
As an industrial designer,...
As an industrial designer, you are right that neither material is exactly eco friendly, since polypropylene is made from oil, and any oil extraction is bad. However, the difference is in the afterlife of the product. Say what you will about fiberglass recycling. It's pretty hogwash when compared with the recycleability of PP. If you take an eames chair to be recycled, the plastic can be melted down right away and be formed into a new product. Fiberglass cannot. Fiberglass is a thermoset material, which means once it's formed it cannot be broken back down, whereas polypropylene is a thermoplast material meaning heat can break the material back down. If you look on Modernicas site, they say fiberglass can be recycled, I guess if you believe grinding the material into powder and putting it in the resin when making more fiberglass, but the truth is, it's just a filler. It really has no purpose in it's new use during second life. So while neither material is what mother nature intended for our earth, the PP has a much better footprint on our world.
If you really want to buy green
buy vintage. Remaking these chairs at all is stupid. Shell chairs are in such abundance. There is enough for everyone. There is no reason to make more at all, save for making money.
Manufacturing anything is bad for the environment. Especially when there really isn't a need to do so.
Who is really going to recycl...
Who is really going to recycle a chair they spent hundreds on. Wouldn't they just keep it. Or pass it down. Or sell it.
This would have been more useful when thousands of these chairs were being used in the contract market, rather than the design nerd market who actually appreciates the history behind it.
Common Sense
Eventually all of the chairs will be 'shot beyond repair' and will need to be disposed of - just like everything else in the world. Despite our all wanting to feel like we have the only chair in the world - the reality is thousands of these chairs sell or else retailers wouldn't carry them. Ergo it makes common sense to have a built in property that allows users to properly dispose/recycle when done.
It is also notable that - while Vitra doesn't say exactly how much - they do claim that post consumer/post industrial recycled plastic is used. Meaning you've got recycled content going in, and recyclable content coming out.
Whitespike makes the best point tho - that the BEST recycling is using something that already exists.
Under normal use
A fiberglass shell would last theoretically "forever".
The original shells are over 50 years old and many are obviously still in excellent condition.
Will Modernica even be around in 50 years or whenever their shells will start to disintegrate and need to be "recycled"?
Perhaps Herman Miller should offer some recycling options for handling their old, broken shells?
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