Engineering Ethics Of Aluminium Cans And Glass Bottles

The field of ethics (or moral philosophy) involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior (James Fieser, 2013). There are four engineering theories, which are the utilitarianism ethics, duty ethics, right ethics, and virtue ethics.

Utilitarianism ethics is a theory in normative ethics, it`s the morality of actions determined through assessment of the consequences. It states that the best course of actions is by maximizing the happiness and minimizing the distress. Duty ethics emphasises that action is moral only if conduced for the sake of duty (instead of needs and desires), and is a respectful way to treat humanity. Right ethics refers to right and permission acts, such as free speech, cultural and religious beliefs. Lastly, Virtue ethics states that morality in not related to action but virtue, which is competence, honesty, courage, fairness, loyalty and honesty.

Aluminium cans were first produced by Kaiser Aluminium in 1958 as a form of packaging for liquids, which were an improvement of heavier, more expensive tin cans. Aluminium was a perfect material, lightweight, flexible and base and sides were able to be produced from one sheet. Currently there is 100 Billion cans produced each annum in America to satisfy the needs and expectations (Irene Turner, 2012). Producing this new and now existing form of packaging did not come without challenges the metal had to be thin enough to be cost efficient, but strong to withstand and contain pressurized liquids. It had to be comfortable for the consumers to use, which explains the smooth finish and the sizes of cans today. Furthermore, the dished base of the can had to be designed to improve stability and allow expansion.

Initially the aluminium cans was designed to be opened with an external opener similar to the tin can openers used today. It was an uncomfortable way of packaging and very inconvenient. A year later in 1959, Ernal Fraze resorted to using a car bumper whilst on the picnic, consequently his company, Dayton Reliable Tools and Manufacturing Company, designed a removable leaver attached to the can (Irene Turner, 2012). It reduced lip and nose injuries which were previously a problem, ensuring an easy and safe way of opening the container.

Over the years the cans were improved to make them stronger, more comfortable for the consumers and easier to open, but ethical issues arose with it. The enormous amount of cans resulted in billions of discarded ring pull-off tabs, causing pollution and potentially foot injuries. It was also dangerous and may have caused injuries to domestic and farm animals, and infants who were likely to swallow them. In 1976 Daniel C Cudzik invented an opening which stayed attached to the product, as we know it today. There are also recycling programs which recycle used aluminium cans to prevent pollution and reduce the amount of resources needed to continue producing more units.

Despite the best efforts of engineers there are still human safety and environmental ethical issues with aluminium can containers today arising from the need to produce a large number of units at low cost. The ethical issues concerning human safety may include factors such as cut lips and noses whilst consuming the product, and foot injuries due to the openers being pulled out of the can, despite the design of the product. Additionally, if the cans are not manufactured properly, the metal might become contaminated and therefore poisonous/toxic to some extent, which again puts the health of a consumer at risk. The manufacturing processes are also important to ensure the can satisfies the strength requirements, and does not fail under pressure from the stored liquid inside. The environmental issues might include the hazards to humans and wild life, and the pollution the cans and tops cause if not disposed of correctly. Recycling is very important in preventing environmental problems, but this adds extra costs for the companies, which they have to deal with to satisfy the needs. At each design stage engineers and designers have to embed the moral values and learn from the design mistakes. Changes to the product might be possible, but will consumers leave a positive feedback? May the changes cause problems for some people? And what is the best result?

Glass bottles are sometimes reinforced through lamination. Laminated safety glass is made by coating a glass surface with a layer of plastic. When a standard glass bottle is dropped, the glass breaks and scatters. When a laminated bottle is dropped, the glass still breaks but the layer of plastic remains intact, keeping the glass pieces together. This would be an ideal feature of a beer glass bottle, as it would prevent the glass shards from spreading and reduce a risk of injury.

To prevent environmental issues and dangers associated with human and wild life hazards, and even fire hazards, recycling of glass is very important. A glass bottle is 100% recyclable with many new bottles containing glass which was created over 20 years ago. Less energy is used in recycling a glass bottle than creating the glass from raw materials, helping the environment.

Even though glass bottles are eco friendly, they do not decompose, therefore if not disposed of in correct manor they cause serious pollution. Also metal caps found on top of beer glass bottles not only cause serious pollution, as millions of them are discarded on the ground, but are a safety hazard similarly to the aluminium can tabs, as might cause foot injuries and harm to wildlife, farm animals and infants who might consume them. The major issue with glass bottles is when the glass is smashed it becomes a danger to the consumer and the surroundings. This could be limited by the glass being laminated, but the production would become too cost inefficient for the companies to handle.

One can compare pros and cons of using both, the glass bottles and the plastic bottles. Glass bottles, as mentioned, are 100% recyclable, but in comparison to the plastic bottles are much heavier and more expensive to make. Plastic bottles are also recyclable, but the recycled material is of a much lower quality. Companies and therefore people utilize plastic bottles over glass bottles as they are more handy, cheaper and much safer to use. There are approximately 15 million plastic bottles being used in the UK daily, which leads to serious environmental issues. It is said that only under 20% of the plastic is recycled and the rest becomes a land fill. It takes 1000s of years for a plastic bottle to break down.