ZeroLandfill

You too can be part of the solution!  See below for the details of Zerolandifll. 

Drop offs are THIS FRIDAY. 

ZeroLandfill™ is an award winning upcycling program held seasonally that supports the supply needs of local artists, teachers and non-profits while reducing pressure on local landfill capacity.  Since 2006, the ZeroLandfill™ project team has partnered with the architectural and interior design community in identifying, diverting from local landfills and re-purposing back into the community over 1 million pounds of expired specification samples that hold value for other audiences.  

The architectural and interior design community will collect expired samples from their libraries and drop them off at the collection area for sorting and redistribution to the art community.

Pick up/Drop Off Friday August 9 8:30-4:30

Where: “Sources” San Diego A&D Research Liabrary  9889 Willow Creek Rd., CA 92131

www.zerolandfill.net

IP Expo: Lot’s of Eco Friendly Options

By The Eco Committee

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.

Be An Environmental Steward - 10 Small Ways

By Lynn Morris, Director of Communications for ASID
Entirely Design, Allied Member ASID

As we all know, being environmentally conscious is a MUST not a trend. With dwindling resources, overburdened landfills, a growing population, and energy and toxicity concerns, it's imperative that everyone do their part to help. Here are 10 simple ways for each one of us to be environmental stewards this year:

1) Shop locally. Food ingredients will be fresher and material costs often lower when fuel costs to transport products long distances are eliminated. There are some fabulous San Diego area Farmers Markets. They are competitive in cost to large supermarket chains and the produce quality is far better. Check out this link for one near you: http://www.sdfarmbureau.org/BuyLocal/Farmers-Markets.php

2) Turn off lights when you leave a room. Children are easy to teach but we often miss the opportunity. Closets are an oft-forgotten room. If remembering is a challenge, an easy solution is to install an occupancy or vacancy sensor in place of a switch. You can do it yourself by purchasing at a hardware store and the $20-40 cost pays for itself in just a few months.

3) Ride a bike. When you can, take a bike to run errands. An added benefit is the exercise you get and the fitness you attain. Instead of a drive to the park or beach, take a bike ride and a fun tour of your local area.

4) Share rides. Is there someone you and your family can carpool with? Can you take trips to showrooms with a colleague? It's not hard to find someone to shop with!

5) Turn down the thermostat. Rather than heat your home to a toasty 72 degrees in the winter, put on a sweater and turn it down to a cozy 68 degrees. Save even more - up to 15% of your bill - by turning it down another 5-10 degrees while you sleep. An automatic thermostat can be programmed so you don't have to adjust it manually. You can acclimate yourself to a lower temperature by lowering your thermostat one degree per day. When you come in from the cold, 68 will be toasty and warm.

6) Maintain your tire pressure. Keeping the correct tire inflation pressure helps optimize tire performance and fuel economy. Correct tire inflation pressure allows you to experience tire comfort, durability and performance designed to match the needs of your vehicle(s). You can get your air tested for free at most tire centers; I use Discount Tire and they’re friendly and fast!

7) Recycle more. Don't empty your car into the garbage can in a parking lot. Take those bottles and bags to a grocery store for recycling if you don't have community centers or home pick-up. More importantly, consider everything you purchase and how it's packaged, opting to recycle packages you must buy, and change products whose packaging is excessive.

8) Insulate your home. Whether you are trying to keep your home cool or warm, ensuring a good seal around windows and doors is key. Check air flow from receptacles and switches as well; there are inexpensive gaskets at hardware stores that fix them quickly. Be sure your dryer vents, chimneys, and other access points are also insulated. How about a blanket on your hot water heater and hot water pipes? It will keep the water hot longer, and save money on re-heating.

9) Use energy efficient bulbs. Compact fluorescent bulbs save over 50% of the energy used by incandescent bulbs. With better lighting, dimmability, recycling ability (Home Depot), and energy savings, what's not to love? SDG&E offers instant rebates to purchase at Dixieline so the cost per bulb is about $0.50. With nearly three times the life of incandescent bulbs, that's more than double the savings.

10) Compost. Whether you have a large yard or a small one, placing yard waste into a compost bin is easy and the space required for a small bin is about 24” in diameter. The resulting mixture will provide fabulous fertilizer for your pots and garden; mine does! There are many companies that sell compost bins, or you can make your own. Indoor composting is now easy, small scale and attractive. Check out the available products on-line when you Google “kitchen composting”. While not advocating a specific product, www.Amazon.com has a variety of kitchen composting pots that are very nice and competitively priced.

Lynn Morris is the principal designer for A Touch of Tradition Home & Garden Shop, a full service design studio & furnishings, lighting & accessory shop.   From fabrics, window coverings, ready-made and custom furnishings, to fabulous lighting and accessories, TOT-HOME offers something for every style of decor.  Lynn creates stylish interiors with enduring appeal and loves to incorporate classic, sustainable and luxurious details. Please visit her at: www.tot-home.com





The Glass is Always Greener....

by Robert Eugley, Owner
Mirror Shower & Glass
Miramar Glass & Mirror
ASID Industry Partner

I’ve spent the last 27 years in the glass industry, and, to be perfectly blunt, my industry has done little to promote recycling and even less to promote the use of sustainable products. If there is a bright light anywhere, it is our solid track record in creation of new energy efficient products.
 
Insulated glass units with low emissivity (low e) coatings on the glass have done wonders to reduce the use of energy and eliminate ultraviolet damage to interiors.  However, the seals on insulated glass units typically fail after 15 - 20 years and have created a new waste stream that didn’t exist before, whereas the single-glazed window glass that dual-glazed units have replaced was a permanent product, aside from breakage.

The window systems that house the glass have been redesigned with more efficient materials that reduce transmission of heat and cold. Solar energy collection is dependant upon the glass industry for the creation of high performance glass that allows absorption of tremendous heat without failing. Without that advance, the future of solar energy collection would have been severely limited. Recently, the industry has introduced shading systems that augment the work done by energy efficient glass systems.

Recycling is where the glass industry is at its weakest. Glass is recycled only at the wholesale level of production because this is the only time when the glass contains no contaminants and the waste is of sufficient volume to warrant collection. At the local level, recycling of waste aluminum is profitable enough to attract most shop owners. Shower doors, window frames and storefront systems can be cleaned up and readied for collection at a modest profit.

At our shop, there are an additional nine items that are collected and either deposited at the office recycling bin or taken to local collection centers, including computers and accessories, paper, cardboard, plastic T-shirt bags, beverage containers, tin foil and various plastics . What we do is still too little and we are constantly searching for ways to improve.

I’m a firm believer that, as a planet, we are grossly overpopulated and, since that problem shows no sign of correction, we had better conserve our resources, reduce the waste stream and aggressively seek more environmentally sound ways to live our lives.

Bob Eugley is owner of Mirror Shower & Glass, www.MirrorShowerAndGlass.com, an ASID Industry Partner. He can be reached at Bob@MirrorShowerAndGlass.com.