...and then recycle it, please! So could go the hip hop theme song for Owens Corning's recently launched shingle recycling program. The nation-wide program will have Owen's Corning Preferred Roofers pledging to recycle asphalt shingle tear-off and Heritage Environmental Services promising dedicated and convenient tear-off drop-off centers for the contractors.
So shingles are kept out of landfills and contractors get to set a good example to homeowners by employing sustainable building practices. Sounds like a win-win to me.
In addition to reducing the millions of tons of asphalt shingles that end up in landfills each year, the recycled asphalt can be used as a cost-effective alternative to making new asphalt that will be used on roads across the country. The Asphalt Institute estimated a potential $1 billion value on recycled asphalt. Okay, so it's really win-win-win.
We've all searched Craigslist and Freecycle for roofing, flooring and other home renovation scraps. Sometimes we hit the jackpot and sometimes we get sidetracked and buy a new TV instead. Whoops. So we were really psyched to hear about Diggerslist.com, dedicated to buying and selling excess from construction sites.
Recently launched in 15 top metropolitan areas, DiggersList allows big construction companies to sell their unused building materials online at discounted prices. Flooring, roofing, tile -- it can all be found.
The new service aims to reduce nationwide construction waste, allow suppliers to offload surplus inventory and make materials available to the DIY enthusiast at reduced cost. Contractors can also post their services on the site, and property owners can post projects they're looking to have professionally done. It's people meeting people, hammer meeting nail, bargain building materials meeting the bed of someone's pickup.
The construction-centric DiggersList can be aptly compared to the beloved CraigsList. The UI has some similarities, although DiggersList features additional info like "Recent Users", "Recent Photo Albums" and a "Recently Listed" section. It's worth checking out, particularly if you live in one of the DiggersList areas. For everyone else, the wait is on.
If you had DiggersList in your area, what would you use it for?
Want something better to do with your old carpet than throw it in the dump? A company called Carpet America Recovery Effort, or CARE, has worked in carpet diversion for six years. The joint industry-government effort works to increase the amount of recycling and reuse of post-consumer carpet and reduce the amount headed to our already-overcrowded landfills. The company passed its one-billion pound mark with carpet diversion in 2007. To find carpet reclamation partners in your area, click here.
Since I started working here, I've written more about toilets than I ever dreamed possible. But one thing has captured my imagination about them: the idea of recycling the waste. The Boston Globe has an interesting article on the concept and the movement. Turns out urine is filled with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, three ingredients in artificial fertilizer. Feces also have these components in lesser amounts but produce methane, which can burned and used as "biogas." And in these days of high energy and fertilizer prices, people are looking to maximize efficiency in every way possible.
The article talks about several concepts, including toilet technology to separate urine from feces and vacuum-based biogas toilets. It also traces the history of sanitation and the problem of retrofitting our existing system. Overall, it's a great read about something we don't spend a lot of time talking or thinking about.
The demand of copper is rising dramatically, along with the price. This has caused some people to doubt whether copper is worth using in homes anymore. In a recent survey conducted by the Copper Development Association (CDA), a majority of Americans still think the benefits of copper make it worth being used. Some of these benefits include:
1) When used for frequently touched objects, such as doorknobs, copper kills dangerous germs and bacteria. 2) Copper improves indoor air quality and reduces energy consumption when it is used in the heating and AC systems. 3) Copper is totally recyclable.
You may remember the recent scare about trace amounts of mercury in CFLs (compact fluorescent lights), those energy-saving wonder lightbulbs. While the mercury is not a danger in household use, it can be a problem when thousands of the CFLs are improperly discarded and put into a landfill. But now Home Depot has started a recycling program for these bulbs. It will now take back CFLs at all of its 1,973 stores nationwide. Previously, customers had to seek out local hazardous waste programs or smaller retail stores for recycling, leading to a two percent recycling rate. Both Home Depot and Wal-Mart are heavily promoting CFLs, which are 10 times as energy-efficient as conventional bulbs.
If you enjoy drinking beer and like the idea of solar energy, I've found the web page for you. It provides detailed instructions for creating a solar heating panel made entirely of old beer cans. Why use beer cans? The authors provide a list of reasons, but my favorite is "Instead of buying a sheet of aluminum for $24 at Home Depot, you get to drink $24 worth of beer." Sounds good to me.
