The Recycled Condo - Three Types of "Recycled"
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SIDEBAR: Three different types of recycling
Recycling is the cornerstone of the Three R’s. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. However, there are several different ways to recycle. In the condo construction industry there are three different types of recycled building material.
Salvage – The purest form of recycling is to make use of salvaged “stuff”. This means taking used building material (like bricks or wooden beams) and with little or no processing using them in the construction of a new structure. Since there is no mixing, treating, or processing the use of salvage is carbon neutral. It is so golden it is green!
Post-consumer recycled content – This refers to recyclable items that are components within the manufacturing process of new building material. When glass bottles are ground and then mixed with new material to create insulation, the insulation is said to contain post-consumer recycled content. The finished product is good but not squeaky green. That is because new materials have to be added to the recycled supplies and carbon is spent in the processing of same.
Pre-consumer recycled content - Back in the last century when retread was considered a bad word there was considerable waste generated in the production of building material. Scraps of wood. Metal trimming. Off-sized aluminum strips. All industrial trash that was routinely trucked to landfill sites. Nowadays? One company’s garbage is another firm’s secret ingredient. Although there is a carbon footprint used in the creation of the scrap and the subsequent processing of it into a new product, it is still considered to be green. Landfill sites are spared, waste is reduced and components are recycled.
Cutline: Bits of glass used by the Atlas Block Company to produce recycled concrete blocks
READ THE TORONTO STAR VERSION OF STEPHEN WEIR'S STORY:
http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/green/article/760277--recycled-condos-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts
Stephen Weir SPECIAL TO THE STAR
SIDEBAR: Three different types of recycling
Recycling is the cornerstone of the Three R’s. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. However, there are several different ways to recycle. In the condo construction industry there are three different types of recycled building material.
Salvage – The purest form of recycling is to make use of salvaged “stuff”. This means taking used building material (like bricks or wooden beams) and with little or no processing using them in the construction of a new structure. Since there is no mixing, treating, or processing the use of salvage is carbon neutral. It is so golden it is green!
Post-consumer recycled content – This refers to recyclable items that are components within the manufacturing process of new building material. When glass bottles are ground and then mixed with new material to create insulation, the insulation is said to contain post-consumer recycled content. The finished product is good but not squeaky green. That is because new materials have to be added to the recycled supplies and carbon is spent in the processing of same.
Pre-consumer recycled content - Back in the last century when retread was considered a bad word there was considerable waste generated in the production of building material. Scraps of wood. Metal trimming. Off-sized aluminum strips. All industrial trash that was routinely trucked to landfill sites. Nowadays? One company’s garbage is another firm’s secret ingredient. Although there is a carbon footprint used in the creation of the scrap and the subsequent processing of it into a new product, it is still considered to be green. Landfill sites are spared, waste is reduced and components are recycled.
Cutline: Bits of glass used by the Atlas Block Company to produce recycled concrete blocks
READ THE TORONTO STAR VERSION OF STEPHEN WEIR'S STORY:
http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/green/article/760277--recycled-condos-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts
Stephen Weir SPECIAL TO THE STAR
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