Panelite - Recycled Content

part 4 of 5

In the last three posts (resource preservation – context, resource preservation – criterion, and resource preservation – strategy) I outlined a basis for considering a building material selection criterion that contributes to resource preservation and described six categories of sustainable materials. With this post I’ll give specific examples of companies I feel are advancing the cause. The following are listed in the same six groups.

Reused
As I mentioned in the previous post, there are limited options for building component reuse supply on a national level, but here are some sources to consider:

• Second Use, located in Seattle WA, has been salvaging building components in the Puget Sound region for more than a decade. They have both a web presence and a physical store. They offer salvage sources where they break down existing buildings and harvest components for reuse. I visit there site often for inspiration and recommend the same for others.
• The Building Material Resource Association is an international group attempting to building visibility for component reuse. They offer resources, discussion forums, library recommendations, information, knowledge and a database of salvage suppliers in the US and Canada. My experience with their web site has been mixed. Many of the companies listed in the database are members of the organization and are contractors who provide some salvage services, but there seem to be very few retail or exchange services listed. There doesn’t seem to be a vetting process or ranking and you have to do a lot of work to find out what each company offers, plus some of the web links are not active. But it’s a good place to start when looking for a local company to assist in the dismantling of an existing building.

Recycled Content
As I mentioned in previous posts, new businesses are being formed and existing manufacturers are adding new environmentally favorable products with a high degree of recycled content at a rapid pace. In August, Aleida wrote a post about one of our favorite recycled products – Eleek Aluminum Tiles, and another in September about our favorite recycled glass products. Below I’ll go into greater detail with two companies we have worked with:

• ShetkaWorks manufactures a rigid, hard, solid surface material – called Shetka Stone – made from one hundred percent post-industrial and post-consumer paper, plant and cloth fiber. All scrap, waste, and reject material produced during the manufacturing process is returned to the production cycle – there is no waste by-product created. That’s something pretty rare for an industrial process. You might ask, how durable is a surface made largely from paper. I can personally attest that it’s hard as a rock. It’s durable, scratch resistant, stain resistant, and is class A fire rated. All product comes finished from the factory and ready to use or install. They’re most known for counter-tops or other solid surface applications, but since the molding process can be customized, the base material can be shaped and fabricated at the factory to meet any design. One downside, the fusing processes is protected by patent so the company offers no transparency about the method used to create the product. I presume some binding agent or matrix is needed, though it’s possible that only heat and pressure are use. But disclosing that information would be helpful. Other competitors are PaperStone, Squak Mountain, and Richlite.
• Panelite manufactures translucent architectural honeycomb panels with various patterns, colors, materials, and finishes. Their three primary product lines are ClearShade (an exterior grade facade panel), Laminates (textured translucent sheets), and Laminated and Cast Polymer Series (recycled polymer panels). All products have varying degrees of post-consumer recycled content. In the Cast Polymer Series, for example, the core is composed of eighty percent post-consumer PET or high quality pharmaceutical and food packaging. And, the Laminate  line is made of a non-hazardous and biodegradable mineral. Since all products are translucent, applications with back lighting are a natural. More recently they’ve added table and bench furniture made from their panels to their offering.

Reclaimed and Repurposed
In September Aleida posted a blog about reclaimed wood that listed a number of critical issues to consider and a good list of companies we like for wood. Below I’ll go into greater detail with two companies we have direct experience with and can recommend without hesitation:

• Restoration Timber, with showrooms in San Francisco and New York City, is a very service oriented supplier of reclaimed materials. They prefer to get engaged as early in the design process as possible to help architects and designers find the best wood type, color, size, patina and source to match the design intent. They specialize in reclaiming material made from first or second growth wood that typically has richer grain and color. In their flooring line, they offer a number of difficult to find wood species such as American chestnut, hemlock, hickory, and pecan. They also offer product with unusual original sources such as old factory floors, and some with unique finishes such as saw traced and hand scraped. From old industrial buildings and barns they save beautiful larger trusses and hand hewn beams. Most of their siding line is from barns more than one hundred years old. And since they do their own milling, they offer complete customization so that reclaimed wood can be used in any manner imaginable.
• Where Restoration Timber sources domestic regional wood, TerraMai sources globally. In particular, they’ve excelled in securing an amazing collection of reclaimed teak from southeast Asia. One of their most interesting lines is called World Mix. You can purchase flooring and mixed lumber that include wood species from around the world. This line often includes reclaimed wood from species where newly harvested wood should be avoided since new supply is typically sourced from old growth stands or are threatened species due to over-harvesting. One of my favorite international wood species is Brazilian peroba. I have furniture in my home made from reclaimed peroba and it’s a truly beautiful wood. In recent years TerraMai moved beyond the typical siding, flooring, and timbers offered by most reclaimed suppliers and now have product lines that include panel systems, veneers, and paneling that make it easier, and less expensive, for designers to use reclaimed wood. Go to their site or talk to them regularly because they’re constantly adding unusual items like bowling alley floors, school bleacher seats, and water tank wood.

Rapidly Renewable
As I mentioned in the previous post, Aleida wrote a recent post that presented our definition of rapidly renewable. Below I’ll go into greater detail on a few other materials:

• Smith & Fong have become one of the most recognizable bamboo product manufacturers with their Plyboo line. Their flooring and plywood are the only formaldehyde free FSC certified non-wood products in the market. They are made from Moso bamboo, a fast growing grass, that requires no irrigation, no fertilizers, and no pesticides. Each year only the five year growth is sustainably harvested to protect plantation ecosystems. Although their product lines began with flooring and a plywood substitute, they now offer spectacular material variations. It should be noted that palm is the other major material source Smith & Fong uses, but palm does not grow as fast as bamboo. Smith & Fong does not offer enough information about it’s palm products to know what species is used, where it is sourced, or how it is harvested. So we consider it just renewable, not rapidly renewable. But palm is worth considering. It is beautiful. Since all their raw bamboo is grown in China, shipping to the US is obviously it’s environmental weakness.
• Cork is a soft tissue composed of dead cells found in the inner bark from cork oak trees found primarily in Portugal and Spain. The tree bark is impervious to water, insects, and fire, and periodic removal is beneficial to the tree. The first harvest cannot occur in the first twenty-five years, older trees typically produce better cork, and they can be harvested for 150-200 years. Every nine or ten years following the first harvest the bark can be removed without harming the tree. Sustainable practices make cork an environmentally favorable material. Nova Distinctive Floors is one of the largest manufacturers of cork flooring with a wide range of beautiful patterns and colors. Although cork can be purchased in sheets from some sources, it works best in tile form, and that’s where Nova excels. Their tile patterns and colors are rich and varied. Obviously the down side to this material is source location – there are no domestic plantations.

Reduced Virgin Depletion
In September, Aleida wrote a post with a good list of salvaged wood suppliers. Below I’ll go into greater detail with two companies we think you should check out:

• Woodbank offers a great range of sustainable materials – FSC certified lumber, salvaged, and reclaimed – but it’s their approach to salvaged timber that’s worth talking about. They offer products in five groups – standing dead trees, hazard and windfall, agricultural waste, under utilized wood fiber, and sinker logs. Beetle infestation usually kills trees without damaging the wood, and fire damaged trees in low humidity regions can stand for decades. These trees can be harvested with minimal forest impact. In urban and suburban areas, storms or other natural events drop trees that can be used for lumber. Orchard trees typically only produce nuts or fruit for a number of years. Much of that wood is cut when the trees are no longer productive and used for firewood. Woodbank has contracts with orchards in WA to remove those trees for their timber potential. As mentioned in the previous post, there is a large quantity of logs sunk in low-oxygen cold waterways during past transport available for salvage. All of their sources offer a nice range of options depending on the design need.
• Sinker Treasures in Georgia specializes in salvaging wood from cypress swamps. Most of the old growth wood they supply was cut by ax in the late 1800s and was as much as six hundred years old when it was harvested. The company also offers what is called pecky sinker cypress. Pecky is caused by a fungus that hollows out the center of the tree and takes more than one hundred years to develop. Similar to other woods like wormy chestnut or maple, the hollow tracks formed by the fungus create a unique aesthetic that can be desirable.

Rethought Technology
For me, this is the most exciting group of materials. There is amazing brain power being applied to develop new products that could not have been created without rethinking how products are manufactured. Below are some of my favorites:

• Environ Biocomposites manufactures building materials that are bio-based. They are composite panels similar to OSB or other particle boards, but are composed of biological materials. Their three primary products are Dakota Burl (made from sunflower seed husks), BIOFIBER Wheat (made from wheat straw), and Environ biocomposite (made from newsprint, soy based resin, and color additives). If your project is within five hundred miles from mankato, MN BIOFIBER Wheat the net green house gas contribution is actually negative. All products are fused without added formaldehyde, do not off gas, and have no volatile organic compounds. An additional benefit for BIOFIBER Wheat and Dakota Burl products is how they’re also manufactured with a rapidly renewable resource.
• Sometimes rethinking processes will mean the best new ideas come from the rediscovery of older time tested techniques that were abandoned in the past in favor of industrialized automation. Although the family owned business has been making it product for more than thirty years, Caba Barkskin seems fresh and new. The company, located in Santa Fe NM, sustainably harvests mulberry and fig tree bark from local forests during the rainy season, shreds it, soaks it in water to create a pulp, hand pounds it (like paper has been made for thousands of years), and creates some of the most beautiful sheet goods I’ve ever seen. There are dozens of colors with incredible patterns. Their products are stunningly beautiful, surprisingly affordable, and versatile.

Although I’ve only highlighted two options for each group, there are many many more. Our list of vetted suppliers grows every month. I hope that means the industry is growing and beginning to become more mainstream.

My next post in this series will conclude the sequence and focus on how to apply design strategies that leverage these materials. Please come back to check it out.

This is part four of five about resource preservation. Part one is entitled resource preservation – context, part two is entitled resource preservation – criterion, part three is entitled resource preservation – strategy, and part five is entitled resource preservation – design.

related posts:

• April 8, 2010 -- stories of sustainability: Deborah Guyer Greene (0)
• April 5, 2010 -- stories of sustainability: Carol Baumgartel (0)
• March 24, 2010 -- on tour: Kirei USA (3)
• March 22, 2010 -- stories of sustainability: Vetrazzo (0)
• March 19, 2010 -- on tour: Coverings Etc (0)