FAQ

 

Här svarar ägarföretaget Think Outside på frågor angående material, produktion och arbetsförhållanden för plåtdjuren.

Q: The base material of the sculptures is: 44 gallon drums. Are there any harmful substances in these kind of material?
A: Steel drums are made to international standards. International standard for steel drums are: ISO 15750,EN209 & EN210. This helps control that the materials used in their manufacture are to a controlled standard and of materials that are safe to handle. There is also control over what chemicals can go in different styles of drums. Lined Drums- have a Phenolic/Epoxy lining inside, this is designed to keep the substance contained pure and also is non-permeable, minimising residue left behind. Non Lined Drums- There are controls in place for commercial use that specify what substances can be transported and stored in Non-lined Drums.

Q: What Kind of substances where in these 44-gallon-drums before you reused them?
A: We have contracts in place with all of the companies we source our barrels from stating no barrels will have contained toxic substances. The substances our barrels originally contained: At this time are Thinners, Food Binders, Petrol, Diesel and Grease. (This may change, however our non-toxic policy will remain).

Q: In general, are the dangerous to health in any way? Toxic?
A: There are no known toxic materials or residues dangerous to your health. All efforts are taken and shown in our supply chain to deliver a safe and consistent product.

Q: The production of these products is in Vietnam. Nowadays People attach importance to the conditions of employment of Far East-products. What can you tell us about these conditions of employment in Vietnam? 
A: Think Outside has been manufacturing in Africa and Vietnam for a total of 15 Years. We have operated under fair trade guidelines before they ever became common knowledge. Long before there was more international awareness or it became popular and a good marketing tactic to be perceived as fair trade.

The company has been run with high standards of care for all of our workers, wherever they are located. This has been company policy and a personal commitment by the director from our beginning.

Our Company Ethos:
– We will be kind to the environment
– We will prioritise the progress of our staff
– We will deliver unique quality products & service to our customers
– We will enhance the peoples environment who purchase our product

Q: How do you clean these 44-gallon-drums before the further processing? Please describe the process and the materials you use therefore.
A: The recognised standard for cleaning and recycling barrels is called “The Triple Rinse Process”. This is applied to barrels that contain toxic chemicals which ours do not. Our process goes through 4 stages of cleaning.

  1. An offsite collection point where the barrels are cleaned out with a degreaser and water.
  2. They are then manually cut opened and rolled into sheets.
  3. The next step is a scrub with sawdust and Sodium Bicarbonate which absorbs any remaining residues after the first wash.
  4. Then they have a manual scrub with a mix of detergents, listed below.
  5. We then take delivery at our manufacturing facility, where the final process is another manual scrub with straight detergent mix ( mostly Sodium Sulphate) with a final rinse with a high pressure cleaner.
  6. The material is now ready for production.

Q: What kind of paint/varnish do you use for the products? Do you have any safety data sheet?
A: I can’t attach data sheets as these are for products that are part of our process that is not to be common knowledge. I can give you safety assurances that the products used do have approved safety standards and are safe to use. If you need more than this we will need to work out a way without realising some of our IP.

Q: Any other risks?
A: Great care and focus is taken to ensure there are no sharp metal edges or sharp paint flakes. However the Rustic nature of our product can have some sharp paint flaking which can easily be removed, or on occasions a sharp metal edge. This is not of great concern but some awareness of these factors particularly around small children should be noted.

– Think Outside, AUS
http://thinkoutside.biz/about-think-outside/