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Recycled Materials

carpendar | Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on November 2, 2006 11:26am

Over 40% of the building materials used to renovate Chicago Green Tech are made from recycled materials. Reusing products or using recycled materials means that they continue to be a valuable, useful and productive item. Using recycled/reused materials reduces the need to create new products that would use more water, energy, timber, petroleum and other limited natural resources to manufacture. Check out all of the reused and recycled materials used at Chicago Green Tech.

The building itself is the largest re-used item on the site. Renovating existing buildings takes advantage of the infrastructure already in place – plumbing, wiring, roads, sewers, as well as the actual structure. Using these and other existing items not only benefits the environment but also can reduce project costs. Additionally, tearing down existing buildings creates unnecessary waste, much of which is disposed of in landfills.

By re-using the existing building and taking great care to seek out recycled products, renovating Chicago Green Tech had a little impact on the environment as possible.

For example:

More than 36% of the renovation materials were from reused or recycled sources, and some are rather unusual–such as the recycled aviation glass in the bathrooms. Restrooms also have showers to accommodate bike riders.

and..

Cork Flooring is a highly renewable material, often made from reclaimed wine corks or the scrap from making them. All of the building’s recycled materials contain a minimum of 20% post-consumer recycled content, or 40% post-industrial recycled content. Examples include drywall, cellulose insulation, linoleum, ceiling tiles, rubber flooring, gravel, fill materials, steel, tile, MDF board, and fireproofing.

Any thoughts out there???

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Replies

  1. Dave45 | Nov 03, 2006 12:58am | #1

    I see recycled materials as a mixed bag.  Some of it is good, but some is questionable.

    You mention "plumbing, wiring, roads, sewers, as well as the actual structure", but all of these may actually cost more (time, money, and resources) to re-use than to demo and rebuild.

    How much of that old plumbing and wiring would meet today's codes?  Here in CA, almost all old structures would need major seismic reinforcement - and that can cost major bucks.

    Not all demolition waste actually goes to a landfill, anymore.  On my last couple of trips to the dump, I was sent to their recycling facility instead of the landfill.

    1. carpendar | Nov 03, 2006 02:32am | #6

      I actually have none the recycling details of this particular project...I'll ask my brother when he returns tho...maybe he can fill us in...

  2. User avater
    Sphere | Nov 03, 2006 01:00am | #2

    Cork is renewable in a sense, recycling of wine corks is highly suspect ( IMO). While the bark of Cork OAk is replenishable ( by the living tree) the harvest of the bark scarrs the landscape, by use of skid steer loaders and and hrvesting traffic.

    You writing a thesis?

    soil compaction around the trees is also a point, as is the fuel to beget the commodity to point of sale, diesel fumes and rain forests rarely make a sweet fragrance.

    Heavy Hydro carbon exhaust, will precipitate in the environs, and settle into the soil, which wil then uptake into the very
    "green thing" that you are harvesting.

    But you know all that.

    Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

    Shooting rubber bands at the Moon

    1. DanH | Nov 03, 2006 01:04am | #3

      Actually, the primary cork producing areas are in Portugal and other Mediterranian countries, and many of the trees are hundreds of years old. A very renewable resource.
      Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle. --Mahatma Gandhi

    2. carpendar | Nov 03, 2006 01:12am | #4

      I don't know much about anything...lol, so not writing a thesis...you have to blame it on Jim...he started it......I'm just throwing out some ideas my brother used in his project

      1. ponytl | Nov 03, 2006 01:32am | #5

        IF you can use something in it's current state with very little work or change... then yeah i see it as a good thing... if you are making new flooring out of old wood... yeah thats ok too... reuse'n steel  I-beams ect...  always good... you can make  em shorter or longer...   all this is not the same as "creative reuse"  which is reusing something to do something it was never intended to do...  this usually costs 5x what it'd cost  to go buy whatever it is you need to start with...  but if done well then you have an artistic feature... which has to have some value...

        and i reuse everything... only because my time has zero value and i have most tools known to man and a very twisted mind...  i'm not out to save the planet... i just have nothing better to do

        p

        Edited 11/2/2006 9:23 pm ET by ponytl

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