Last week the Del Mar Marriott saw the arrival of a number of
the San Diego chapter’s IPs and Designers for the annual IP Expo. It was a great turn out and happily the vast
majority of the vendors had an ecologically friendly story to tell -from
sustainable or recycled products to their environmentally conscious office practices. Next month we will be featuring the winner of
the “Eco Choice Award”. But for this
month we thought that we would share some of the interesting products/practices
we learned about at the exhibition.
The innovation in products using recycled content has come so far. Lutron which was shown by Western Light
Source, has shades made of recycled content. Vero’s line of Rialto lime plasters contain 50-65% post industrial recycled content. Benchmark Custom Welding uses recycled metal. These are just a small example of the options out there but the message is clear - recycled content is now an available option in most products. Even those that may not have recycled material in their finished products are finding ways to use it elsewhere. Toto is a good example as their damaged china is
crushed and recycled into roadbed construction.
In addition, many companies have adopted green practices in their daily business. Plants are obviously green but Good Earth plant company has also installed a Green Roof Demonstration Garden at their corporate office in Kearny Mesa. According to their preliminary data this has saved approximately 23% on their energy usage and has absorbed 75% of the rain fall on their building. Toto stores and reuses grey water generated during their manufacturing. Sherman Williams uses bio diesel trucks in their transportation. Personnel at Nature’s Designs try to refrain from printing whenever possible.
Please contact your IPs and request more information regarding their eco friendly products and procedures. The list is so extensive that these days you can easily support this green movement in whatever design attributes you are looking for.
