On the way home from work, in my Subaru of course (haven't picked up the Accord from brake surgery yet) I was listening to the Duluth independent public radio station. One syndicated program they carry was supported by Subaru. In the quasi commercial they are allowed on public radio, they said that Subaru plants are committed to zero contribution to landfills. Everything is reused or recycled, or so they say.
It's a step in the right direction. Although I'm sure they haven't factored in the eventual waste that parts of their cars will create (If in fact they ever die; I'm counting on the reports that Subarus are immortal!) I think it's good that a major manufacturer considers the waste stream that manufacturing creates, and makes efforts to eliminate it.
And I'm happy to have purchased a slightly used vehicle, not a new one. Not only for the monetary savings, but if I had purchased a new vehicle I would have contributed to the consumer demand that fuels the production of new vehicles, and the concomitant waste.
We considered a new Ford Escort hybrid; financing aside, we rejected it for the fact that hybrids haven't been widely used in cold climates like here, and that they really don't get significantly greater gas mileage than the car we bought, and that buying a used conventional vehicle trumps buying a new hybrid, material wise. And, our dear trusted mechanic in the nearest town might not be able to work on a hybrid, although I'm sure he'd give his best at it.
3 comments:
I also like that Subaru sponsors Leave-No-Trace and the International-Mountain-Biking-Association. Both organizations do educational programs about being responsible in the environment. That's cool.
When I took the LNT training a couple of years ago, there was a deal: if you became a member of LNT, you got $1,000 off the price of a new Subaru. I don't know if that is still the case... and it doesn't help much for those of us that buy used... but it's cool, anyway.
Jennifer- It sounds like they're perhaps the greenest car manufacturer around, or trying to be. That's quite a deal for just going thru LNT training!
So far, I have no complaints on my Subaru. It’s running very well. The parts are tough. I make it a point to check every single part so as to avoid any problem in the road. Hopefully, I haven’t had any trouble with it during rush. I got to replace some of its Subaru Baja Parts last week and I’m fortunately enough that it’s only the part that I needed to purchase for it this month.
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