Last March, during my fifth trip to Germany, the deepest impression was made by litter. Discarded trash lined both sides of a two-lane country road for some 60 kilometers as our tour bus headed to a factory in the little hamlet of Grossheringen, in what used to be Communist East Germany.
The factory belongs to Viega Pro-Press, which makes crimped plumbing fittings that have been marketed in the U.S. for several years. I was with more than 30 fellow travelers on a tour co-sponsored by Pro-Press and W&C‘s sibling magazines, Plumbing & Mechanical and PM Engineer. We visited several Viega facilities, as well as the renowned ISH Fair in Frankfurt, the world’s largest exposition of plumbing-heating-piping products. With so much glitter on display, it seems perverse to write about litter. But bear with me, please, because all that litter speaks volumes.