February/March 2009
Recycling News
C O N T E N T S
Executive Director's Corner: Crossing The Potomoc
LEED: Fort Carson Building Awarded First Army LEED Gold
Neighborhood Development: LEED Neighborhood Development in Colorado
Recyling News: Some Thoughts on Recycling Old Office Furnishings
Sustainable Development: Creating a Sustainable Future
Getting Green Done: Forgive Me Father, I Don't Have the Money
Sustainable Strategy: Creating Effective Collaboration and Leadership Tactics
Executive Director's Corner: Major Speaker Announced for May Conference
Metro Branch Update: Denver Metro Branch is Looking for Volunteers
VISION
Promote responsibility for Colorado's environmental legacy.
MISSION
Advance and promote sustainable planning, design, construction and operation of the built environment through education, improving industry guidelines, policy advocacy, and information and resource sharing.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dana Kose, Chair
Universal Development Company
Jim Bradburn, Vice Chair, Chair Elect
RMH Group
Megan Christensen, Secretary
US LendLease Communities
Sebastian De Atucha, Treasurer
3BY
Clay Benson, Director at Large
Mortenson Construction
Mike Lowell, Director, Advocacy
US GSA
Bobby Molinary, Director, Membership
Julie Edwards, Director, Education
Oz Architecture
Matt Arabasz, Director,Northern Colorado Branch
RB+B Architects, Inc.
Joshua Radoff, Director, Resource Development, and Communications
YRG Sustainability Consultants
Bethany Trumble, Director, Southern Colorado Branch
Farnsworth Group, Inc.
Liz Sharrer, Director, Metro Branch
Holland & Hart
Mike Kolesar, Director, Emerging Green Builders
Facilities Engineering Associates
Deb Kleinman
Executive Director,
USGBC Colorado Chapter
Colorado Building Green is the official newsletter of the U.S. Green Building Council – Colorado Chapter, and is published bi-monthly. If you are interested in submiting a story, ideas or other information for publication, please contact the editor at dgloffreda@msn.com
Some Thoughts on Recyling Old Office Furnishings
Where Does All The Old Furniture Go?
By Kathey Pear, Owner and President of Citron Work Spaces and Co-Founder of Facility Cycle
|
It didn’t take long for us to discover that the same technology used to recycle old cars and other vehicles was readily available and could easily be utilized to recycle old systems furniture…as long as there was significant metal content. There were over 200 sophisticated “auto shredding systems” in operation in the U.S in 2006 and today that number is much higher. Auto shredders use metal detection and air ejection systems to separate metal from waste streams. The resulting product is turned into “auto fluff”, which in the case of systems furniture is actually a complex mixture of many materials including plastics, foam, fabric, wood, and glass. Some options being investigated for the use of auto fluff include its use as an alternative landfill day cover, the combination of auto fluff materials with other recycled plastics to produce composite materials, and using shredded material as a pyrolytic feedstock to recover chemicals and fuels.
In the meantime, we continue to investigate other potential materials recycling technologies. We are currently working on options for recycling treated and finished wood, which has long been a major area of concern for the furniture industry.
And, in our continuing efforts to keep more stuff in use longer, we’ve developed www.FACILITYcycle.com a whole new way to put facility managers, commercial realtors,and building owners who have excess “stuff” directly in touch with non-profits and start-up companiesthat need “stuff”.
There's been a lot of national interest in FACILITYcycle since we launched our beta site 3 months ago. We hope to develop a nationwide network of linked regional "online recycling communities" throughout the U.S. As we are all becoming aware, it's clearly not "sustainable" to package and transport large volumes ofheavy, bulky product over long distances when it can be repurposed right here in our own communities.