NEW RECYCLED PRODUCTS AWAIT DESIGNERS AND CLIENTS

BY LIZ SHAW
Special to the Journal

What goes around, comes around. Landscape architects and other design professionals have never had more opportunities to give recyclable products a second -- or third -- life, while adding beauty and utility to construction projects.

The cost is more and more competitive. And the savings add up for everyone who shares the environment.

In the Puget Sound area, soda bottles are spun into carpet, computer casings are recast into fireproof shingles, milk jugs are remolded into playground structures, and stained-glass chips are someone's driveway. The Washington State Department of Transportation amended its specifications to allow 15 percent recycled glass cullett as part of the aggregate mix.

At least 30 vendors in the Puget Sound region are manufacturing or selling new forms of recycled products. As a fledgling industry, recycled products are in a period of great ferment and creativity.

Public sponsorship helps. Joyce Gagnon, program manager at King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials, works specifically with the design and construction industry to introduce and support the use of recycled products. She cites the transformations recycled paper has undergone as an example of how quickly the changes are occurring.

It was only five years ago that recycled paper hit the market. Complaints were numerous. It clogged up the printer, it was inferior quality, and it was expensive. Now the quality is comparable to virgin paper. You can select from de-inked paper, unbleached paper and choose between five types of copy paper. Today, the price difference between recycled and virgin paper is negligible.

This process is typical of all recycled products. As the industry gains marketshare, innovation and improvements take place.

While there have been a few recycled products on the market for many years, now there is a commercial supply of the materials that members of Seattle households have diligently cleaned, sorted and recycled. Glass and plastic products appear in unexpected applications.

For landscape architects, reasons to use glass are numerous. Glass aggregate is well suited for drainage systems, base course materials and fill because of its compactability and its permeability. Mixed-color cullet, made from a mixture of colored glass bottles is available from local haulers of recycling programs. This type of cullet -- because of its inconsistent color -- is very inexpensive.

"Glass can be used for grading and contouring sites. At five-eighths inch or one-half inch, glass is very much like pea gravel. It compacts to a consistent density, regardless of the depth of grade," said Gagnon. For a roadway project in Renton, the glass cullet was used as backfill, and was cheaper than rock.

Glass is being used in volume in residential settings. Gagnon says, "you can go up to Woodinville and find driveways using stained glass chips instead of pea gravel. I've seen green and red driveways." The opaque glass reduces the glare and sparkle associated with translucent glass.

On a more decorative scale, loose cullet can be used in walkways. Pavers and tiles of solid recycled glass or glass additives are being used for interiors and exteriors.

While application of plastic seems to be limited only by imagination, plastic timber is of interest to landscape architects because of its frequent application in decks, landscaping and fencing. It is virtually maintenance free, doesn't splinter or crack, and is immune to termites, insects and marine borers. As expected, it is waterproof. In contrast to treated wood, there is no leaching, a characteristic particularly helpful in environmentally sensitive areas. It does not shrink with age and has superior nail and screw retention. It is also immune to horses, who routinely nibble at wooden fencing.

However, it is a wood substitute, not a wood replacement, and has limited structural capabilities and should not be used as a direct replacement for wood framing in structural applications. It is more expensive than treated wood, but it "tests your ingenuity on how to use the timbers effectively," says Gagnon. With its longevity of approximately 50 years to 75 years, plastic timber's life cycle costs are reasonable.

Several products are cost competitive. Wood mulch is less expensive than bark. Compost is competitively priced to peat moss and amended topsoil. Compost has been effective in diminishing the effects of erosion and slides.

Design firms with public clients are in a good position to stay ahead of the recyclable market. The King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials sponsors a program that pays for the differential cost of the recycled product versus the virgin product.

It is available to public agencies, school districts and municipalities within King County, but not in Seattle. The program's goal is to showcase recycled products and use these projects as test cases to gather information on the products.

The criteria for judging include using a variety of products with diverse applications. Locally produced commodities are given preference. The project must be accessible to the public and the recycled products labeled. A contact must respond to inquiries and to prospective product users.

The due date for applications this year has passed, but the commission will be accepting applications for the next year.

"We recognized that the design and construction industry has some resistance to recycled products because of the inherent risk in designing and building structures," said Gagnon.

These projects are intended to diminish perceived fears in the design community.

King County Roads and Engineering Division has several projects funded by this program. One project is using compost with topsoil to establish vegetative swales -- a grassy area along roads to help control erosion. The compost will accelerate the growth of grass seed. Another project involves replacing decayed timbers with plastic lumber. Many of these timber bridges are in environmentally sensitive areas, and plastic lumber's non leaching characteristic, and its longevity were deciding factors in choosing it.

Other projects are found in parks and playgrounds. A weather resistant yellow play structure made from 700 recycled milk jugs is besieged by kids at Carnation's Park. Duvall's Riverfront Park features recycled plastic lumber. At Woodinville Heights Park, recycled materials will be found in playground mats, retaining walls and even bird feeders.

These projects only tap the surface. The potential of integrating recycled products into projects is boundless, as the market continues to increase the variety of its products. Landscape and architectural designers have a unique opportunity to incorporate recycled products, while offering their clients a cost-effective, responsible and creative response to design challenges.

Recyclable materials resources

The King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials has a resource room available to the public. A notebook references projects which used recycled products, sample specifications, and related construction information. Their library also has product information. They are located at 400 Yesler Way, Room 200 Seattle, WA, 98104. Contact Joyce Gagnon at (206) 296-4439 with questions or to use the library.

Local

• Sustainable Building Materials Database, Environmental Works, 402 15th Ave E. Seattle, WA 98112; (206)-329-3848
  
• The Harris Directory, Stafford-Harris, Inc., 1916 Pike Place, #605, Seattle, WA; 98101-1056 (206) 682-4042, fax (206) 447-1670
  
• Construction Demolition Landclearing, King County Solid Waste Division, Department of Public Works, 400 Yesler Way, Room 600 Seattle, WA 206-296-4471. Extensive listing of where to dispose of a variety of construction materials.
  
• Recycled Content Building and Construction Products, Clean Washington Center, 2001 Sixth Avenue, Suite 2700, Seattle, WA 98121; (206) 464-7040.

Regional

• A Guide to Recycled Products: Construction and Industrial, Metro, 600 N.E. Grand Avenue, Portland, OR 97232-2736; (503) 797-1650.
  
• Resource Efficient Building: A Handbook for Building Owners, Designers and Project Managers, Metro-same as above.
  
• Resources for Environmental Design Index (REDI Guide), Iris Communications, 258 East 10th Avenue, Suite E, Eugene, OR 97401-3284 (800) 346-0104.
  
• Sustainable Building Materials Products Directory for Manufactured Housing, Pacific Northwest Laboratories, 500 NE Multnomah Ave., Suite 650, Portland, OR 97232; (503) 230-4242.
  
• Environmental by Design: Professional Edition, P.O. Box 95016, South Vancouver CSC, BC V6P 6V4; (604) 255-4564.
  
• Guide to Resource Efficient Building Elements, Center for Resourceful Building Technology, P.O. Box 100, Missoula, MT 59806; (406) 549-7678.

National

• Environmental Building News, RR1 Box 161, Brattleboro, VT 05301; (802) 257-7300.
  
• The Environmental Resource Guide, American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment, 1735 New York Ave., N.W. Washington, DC (800) 365-2724 fax (800) 678-7102.

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