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Dragon
Gardens Northwest
Human Rights and Environmental Impact Statement
Dragon Gardens Northwest (DG) prides it self as an environmentally
and morally conscious American company. Ceramics are produced by the
harvest of raw natural materials, heavy labor, skilled craftsmanship
and combustion. The word
“ceramics” is derived from the Greek word “keramos” practically translated as “burnt earth.”
This being said, we still do our best to persuade and direct
the factories to follow humane and environmentally conscious production
methods if they are not already doing so.
Below you will find some of the challenges we face and some of
the solutions we have found work in China
and Vietnam.
Working Conditions &
Human Rights Overseas
The unskilled nature of harvesting
of raw, naturally occurring materials and the physical labor involved
in production, create an opportunity for factory owners to exploit their
virtually inexhaustible supply
of migrant workers, most of who are ignorant of their rights under Chinese
law and are willing to work under any conditions without protest. There are a number of actions we have
taken to avoid investing in factories that exploit their laborers.
The first action we took is direct supervision. I make frequent trips abroad to inspect
and observe working conditions at the factories we support. During these trips, I tour the factory
with the managers and my assistant, then ask to inspect without supervision
in order to converse with the staff without the intimidation of management
listening in. We observe
their work areas; ask them about work breaks and hours worked per day. Our factories generally work their staff
a maximum workweek of 40 hours. Minimum wages are established locally,
and wages cannot be deducted or delayed without reason. If employees
must work more than 40 hours, overtime pay at fixed rates is mandatory.
Workers are guaranteed at least one day off every week. Working conditions
are required to be safe and sanitary.
In addition to our personal
supervision, we maintain a full-time independent representative, based
in China. This individual is valuable for a number
of reasons, including quality control and inspection, as well as new
source inspections. Since she works for us and not the factory we are
able to receive an unbiased evaluation of working conditions at each
new factory. She is instructed to look for infrastructure
that is hard to fake, like the presence protective equipment (gloves,
face shields, fans, etc) clean and uncluttered work spaces and the presence
of hydration facilities and first aid supplies. The Ceramics trade does not exploit the
use of children in their labor force, due to the physical strength required.
The apparel and rug trades are notorious for their use of children.
Another action we have taken
was to form a purchasing group with a company similar to ours based
in Australia. Between our two companies we are
able to present ourselves to the factories as a single entity with significant
buying power. As the saying
goes, “Money talks” and in China this is the bottom line. By sending our rep to the factory with
the buying power of two companies that purchase nearly one hundred 40’
containers of pottery a year, we are able to demand conditions meet
our standards, in order for them to earn our business.
Our experience in this business, having a practical working
knowledge of how our product is produced, knowing the cost of the raw
materials allows us to make informed decisions about who we choose to
purchase pottery from. If
the prices “look too good to be true,” our knowledge make it evident
that the factory is exploiting labor costs, in order to offer low prices
or they are compromising quality, either way we choose not to work with
those folks. We feel that the reduction labor rights
violations and maintaining better working conditions will strengthen
the loyalty of factory workers, increasing the production quality and
efficiency, creating a higher valued product for the factory, importer,
retailer and consumer.
Environmental Impact Overseas
In order to discuss our actions to minimize the environmental
impact of our products, we first need to review the nature of ceramics.
Ceramics are typically produced by the application of heat upon
processed clays and other natural raw materials to form a rigid product.
Ceramic products that use naturally occurring rocks and minerals as
a starting material must undergo special processing in order to control
purity, particle size, particle size distribution, and heterogeneity.
These attributes play a big role in the final properties of the finished
ceramic.
The next step is to form the ceramic particles into a
desired shape. This is accomplished by the addition of water and/or
additives such as binders, followed by a shape forming process. Some
of the most common forming methods for our ceramic containers include
slip casting, press molds and coiling. Slip casts and press molds are fabricated
from plaster. Once the
molds begin to show wear, they are recycled into new molds. After the particles are formed, these
"green” (meaning un-fired) ceramics undergo a heat-treatment (called
firing or sintering) to produce a rigid, finished product. Many of our
ceramic products then undergo a glazing process. Some materials used
to glaze these containers are Iron, Copper, Cobalt and Magnesium, all
of which are made inert, due to the high temperature firing.
Any volatile organic or potentially hazardous metallic components
are either vaporized during firing or are stabilized and made inert
during firing.
Our
kilns are fired with naturally occurring combustion materials; wood
or natural gas. These are
the traditional materials used in Asia and the USA for the last 2000 years. The primary pollutant produced is CO2
and ash & soot. Ash
is cleaned from kilns and amended into soil (most kilns have an adjoining
farm) Our rustic kilns have been producing ceramics in the same
valley for the last 800 years.
Domestic Environmental Impact
Domestically we do our best to minimize pollution. We run electric forklifts and drive 'vegan'
diesel delivery trucks. We
recycle approximately ½ to 1 1/2 tons of cardboard per month and heat
our warehouse with natural gas.
At Dragon Gardens Northwest we take the condition of our environment
seriously.
As a father of four, I think this Native American proverb
says it best, “we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we
borrow it from our children…”
Thank you,
Eric Paulson, President
Dragon Gardens Northwest
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