The film Mommie Dearest - in which Faye Dunaway portrayed Hollywood icon Joan Crawford - made famous the line, “no more wire hangers - ever!” Now health advocates are embracing the slogan as their own. Noting that wire coat hangers - obtained from the dry cleaners - are starting to be a pollution problem all over America, green conscious consumers are seeking more environmentally sustainable ways of hanging their clothes in the closet. These new, eco-friendly hangers are made of recycled materials, including paperboard, and compostable wheat, and are now on their way to replacing the 3.5 billion wire hangars used in the U.S. each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Wire hangers are considered scrap metal - or solid waste - by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With about 300 million people in the U.S.,  that’s about nine hangers per person per year. For 2006, according to the EPA, Americans are recycling nearly seven million tons of metals, which includes aluminum, steel, and mixed metals. The reason that this is dangerous is simple – metal left in the ground can poison water through a process called “leaching.” That tainted water is harmful to humans. According to research reports compiled by the National Library of Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, metals in the water from hangers may be a cause of Alzheimer’s Disease, or other afflictions, including impaired immunity. “There are tons of hangers broken and thrown away every year, so, yes, the landfills are filling up with wood, plastic, and metal hangers,” Katherine Patton, president of Wheatware.com, maker of the compostable wheat coat hanger, says. “They are a health threat.” Adds Bob Cantor, CEO of the Hanger Network, in an e-mail, “Consumers are more concerned than ever about the use of products made from non-sustainable resources.” The wire hanger is a simple loop of wire in a flattened triangle shape. Steel wire is used to make the hangers. Industry estimates provided by The Hanger Network indicate that enough steel is in those hangers used to make a path from the earth to the moon nine times each year. There are better uses for the earth’s material resources, environmentalists say. Of all materials that are recycled, metal is the least recycled product, environmentalists say. “Paper is the most recycled product,” says Melanie Fish, a spokeswoman for the Solid Waste Association of America. “But you’re seeing an increase in recycling of electronics, textiles, and other commodities, like rubber. Though more steel is recycled than aluminum.”
Many historians believe one of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, invented the clothes hanger. There is some dispute as to whom invented the wire hanger. The wire hanger was, according to one story, inspired by a coat hook that was invented in 1869 by an entrepreneur O. A. North. During the 1930s, an improved hanger design, which used cardboard tubes mounted on the upper and lower parts of the wire to prevent wrinkles to clothing, emerged. Eventually, plastic also made its way into the design ensemble of the wire coat hanger. But consumers are forcing the industry to change its ways.
Many consumers are simply returning old wire coat hangers to their local dry cleaners after they have hung their clothes up in their closets. The cleaners then reuse the hangers. “Even if a hanger is returned to the dry cleaners in a condition that can be used again, these wire hangers ultimately end up in landfills,” Kantor says. Consumers see eco-friendly coat hangers as part of an overall green lifestyle. Green product developers like Wheatware.com, for example, have crop-based coat hangers that are strong, durable, heat resistant yet compostable. They are made of resins from wheat and when processed look like the plastic you see in a plastic coat hanger. The product is capable of bio-degrading in 90 days. The hangers are made from wheat. On average there is a 50 billion bushel wheat surplus annually - that’s about 150 million metric tons. The product has many green attributes. Once composted, the hangers can be used as fertilizer, and accelerate plant growth, according to independent studies. These compostable products, if incinerated, are dioxin-free, and “resolve,” i.e., decompose, into a dry white powder, providing a benefit to the local communities near incineration plants and the earth’s atmosphere, as they do not have to be burned in an incinerator, or melted down by a scrap metal dealer. The fact that the hanger decomposes also helps lessen the planetary burden on landfill. The trash from old hangers does not have to be trucked long distances, contributing to air pollution and traffic congestion. Other firms offer different versions of eco-friendly coat hangers - which also seem to have something of an environmental benefit.
The so-called “EcoHanger” is made of a fully recyclable cardboard coat hanger, comprising of post-consumer waste. No trees are cut down for the production of the green hanger. What’s more, the production process doesn’t involve the use of any glues, inks, or other non-renewable resources. “EcoHangers are made from 100 percent recycled material and are 100 percent recyclable,” Kantor says. “The neck of the hanger is made with recycled and reused beverage bottle caps. The bodies are made from paperboard.” The companies are starting to publicize their efforts - in the hopes of getting the products a high-profile. Based in Melbourne, Australia, The Green Hanger this spring supplied hangers for the 2008 L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s runway shows. Wheatware.com provided products inside the Ford Motor Company Celebrity VIP Gif t bags for a recent event in Los Angeles, where celebrities like Paris Hilton, and others, were demonstrating environmentally sound technologies. “Environmentally conscious brands are trying to have their marketing work together with their brand’s attributes,” Kantor adds.
Clothiers like Van Heusen, Joseph Abboud and others have embraced eco-friendly coat hangers as part of their marketing campaigns, and some 35,000 dry cleaners around the U.S. have pledged to use hangers from the Hanger Network, a maker of environmentally friendly hangers. There’s still a long way to go, particularly in convincing all local dry cleaners to pay for a premium product. Sales of eco-friendly hangers are just debuting in in Britain, the U.S. or the Middle East. So, how green are these eco-friendly coat hangers? Very. Since they reduce the amount of materials in landfills and incinerators, they are making a positive contribution to the environment. We hope that in the coming years more consumers embrace them, and compel dry cleaners to do so as well.
– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director
New risks for Alzheimer’s may be in the water.
Posted: August 13th, 2008 under Alzheimer's, Diseases, Impaired Immunity.
Comments: none
