www.greenbuildermag.com 07.2012
Eco -LEADERSHIP 12
Salvaged Beauty
Adding post-consumer waste to a product is becoming increasingly common. Percentages of less than 10% are fairly negligible, but a number of companies have numbers in the high double digits. Trex decking uses recycled plastic and wood that would otherwise go into landfi lls. Its composite products contain 95% recycled content. Countertops are another place to look for serious conservation: Eco by Cosentino, Vetrazzo (shown) and Glass Recycled all use post-consumer or post-industrial glass or porcelain in their surfaces, while PaperStone uses recycled paper. The recycled content in all of four companies is 75% or higher.
4 5
Life Cycle Thinking
In a very promising trend,some companies claim to be looking at the entire chain of custody of their materials. In 2010, Unilever, the British–Dutch multinational consumer goods behemoth, launched a Sustainable Living Plan that highlights its life-cycle assessment. By 2020, the company has pledged to halve the greenhouse gas impact of its products across the life cycle, from the sourcing of raw materials to consumer use and disposal, as well as the waste associated with products’ disposal, and to utilize agricultural raw materials that are 100% sustainably sourced (note the tea pickers at right). To help meet its ambitious goals, Unilever crowd-sourced ideas through an online collaboration platform, inviting more than 2,000 experts in the sustainability fi eld to join in a wide-ranging discussion in April of this year.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68