BUILDINGS, MAINTENANCE & REFURBISHMENT
Taking steps towards sustainability W
e engage with sustainability in so many ways in our daily lives. From my own perspective, I see an inconsistent approach from many clients and building designers in the education estates sector when it comes to choosing building materials and interior finishes. One example concerns the use of plastics, where I have seen distinctly different sets of values being applied, depending upon what it is being used for.
RICHARD AYLEN, Technical Manager at Junckers, discusses whether the education sector is making good progress when it comes to becoming more sustainable
I suggest that every part of the education sector in the UK, if asked, will say that it is sustainable, and students are taught from an early age about how important this is. In universities, lectures are being delivered by people who lead in this field. So, when given a choice between, say, a vinyl floor and a sustainably-sourced solid hardwood floor, why do some people still opt for a synthetic floor? My view is that many people simply opt for the same product they used last time, and they are not fully aware of - or are ambivalent to - the problems being created for future generations.
We are, of course, heavily reliant on plastics - but this comes at a cost to the environment. Everything from microscopic particles to larger fragments of plastic have been found in our deepest oceans. General plastic waste is very difficult to dispose of, often going to landfill or incineration. Unlike metal and glass, you cannot recycle the same plastic over and over again, and so using recycled plastic is helpful only as a short- term strategy.
But arguably the biggest environmental issue with plastic is that it is derived from crude oil. By extracting
oil and turning it into plastic products which later degrade or are incinerated, we are releasing ‘new’ carbon into the atmosphere, and this increases global warming. This carbon would otherwise have remained trapped underground and would have had no effect. If you compare this with timber, a growing tree captures carbon from the atmosphere and stores it. If you use the tree to manufacture a floor, then at the end of the floor’s life when the wood either decays or is burnt as fuel, it releases roughly the same quantity of carbon back into the atmosphere. Therefore, when we manufacture using timber, there is no net increase in global warming - all other things being equal. For some products we have no choice but to use plastics, but very often there will be easy alternatives. If you take a typical school hall or multi-purpose space, for example, you could equally choose a synthetic covering, or a solid hardwood floor. Either will perform as a floor finish, but when you look at sustainability, the two are worlds apart. Timber is carbon neutral, can be repurposed and recycled, and is easy and clean to dispose of.
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