Ah, Le Mini Paris!

To most people, used cans, jars, cardboard boxes and other discarded household wares are just things to either be thrown in the trash or recycled.  To inspired Frenchman Gerard Brion, however, they are the brick and mortar with which he built a detailed 1/130th scale model of Paris, France over the past 15 years.  Located in his own backyard in the southern French town of Vaissac, 70 km north of Toulouse, Brion’s creation is open to the public, and even has a (human-size) cafe and various nearby attractions in case you get tired after an hour of strolling its mini streets.  It goes without saying that Brion’s work shows how a little creativity (and a LOT of dedication) can change the way we perceive of refuse, and perhaps even suggest the permanence of many of the things we think just “go away” when we throw them away.  Anyone interested in visiting should hurry, as the park will only be open through September 30th!

For more information please visit Le Petit - Paris

Closing the Loop on Plastic Bottle Recycling

For those of us frustrated by the lack of effective plastic recycling (and the notion of sending our waste overseas for someone else to worry about), we should turn our attention to a solution emanating from the U.K.  With the opening in June of their new recycling plant in Essex, England, Closed Loop Recycling has developed a method of capturing, processing and reconstituting otherwise landfill-bound plastic (PET and HDPE) bottles into food-grade material (”flake”), to be resold to manufacturers.  This is no small feat, given the lack of infrastructure and capacity many countries have, for capturing a high enough volume of waste before it gets lost to a landfill, not to mention the remaining lack of consciousness of the need for recycling in the first place.  As if this weren’t enough, Closed Loop Recycling also advises companies, organizations and municipalities on how best to utilize recyclable content within packaging products for future ease-of reuse, and offers services by which to educate people on the benefits of applying closed loop methodologies, from proper collection of waste to eventual reconstitution.

(All images courtesy of Closed Loop Recycling)

It seems that Closed Loop Recycling has come up with a viable closed loop system, so hopefully their example will make waves and spread its way around the world, and particularly to the U.S., a major consumer of bottled water.  Already, a number of U.S. cities have taken on the challenge of reducing and eliminating plastic water bottles, and although some consumers may be complaining, they will probably soon come to see that such efforts are only for their benefit.  As success from Closed Loop Recycling’s experiences become known in coming months, more companies will surely follow suit and start their own closed loop plants, including in the U.S.

For more on the topic of plastic bottles and waste, please visit the following links -

Closed Loop Recycling’s site pages on Technology and Case Studies

Bottlemania

The Great Garbage Patch

NRDC’s On Earth article Global plastic pollution: the scale of the problem

NRDC Bottled Water. Pure Drink or Pure Hype?

Give Wood a Second Chance

(All images courtesy of Trestlewood.com)

Using reclaimed wood has its benefits.  For one, it’s a good contribution to green building.  Rather than cutting down trees to get the needed wood, reusing wood is just as good if not better.  Another key benefit is the wood’s history of origin, as knowing the wood came from a source with a history adds depth and value to a project, and often makes it a centerpiece and conversation starter for years to come.  These benefits along with others, are attractive selling points for companies who have invested in reclaiming wood.  Trestlewood, a wood salvaging company based in Utah, gets its wood from a part of U.S. history, and its story is really quite remarkable.  It all started in the early 1900s, with the completion of the country’s first transcontinental railroad.  The Southern Pacific conquered another feat as well, the Great Salt Lake with the Lucin Cutoff.  The construction for the Cutoff took two years, thousands of men, large amounts of equipment, miles of wooden trestles, and millions of board feet of timber.  The Lucin Cutoff was in service until the 1960s, when it was replaced by a causeway, by which time the trestle contained over 38,000 piles.  In 1993, Cannon Structures, Inc. established its Trestlewood Division when they obtained salvage rights to the trestle from the old Lucin Cutoff, and thus, a business was born.

Salvage of the Douglas Fir timbers, Redwood decking, and Douglas Fir piling took more than seven years to bring to shore.  Poles as long as 100 feet were carried over by a barge, some weighing more than 4,000 pounds.  Trestlewood maintained a desire to handle all salvaged wood cautiously, in order to preserve its value. Once on shore, some re-manufacturing was required, for example, any metal that may have still been in the wood was removed.  Most of the wood had been affected greatly by the Great Salt Lake, in that they were soaked to the core with salt water, which gave the final product a unique coloring.  These factors and more, make Trestlewood’s products different from others on the market, and they have been very active in identifying a market to fit the wood from the trestle.  Trestlewood is a small family-owned business based in Utah, and they are conservative with their budget and stand by their products, which have unique characteristics like no other.  The company believes in creating good relationships with their customers, and would rather see a customer happy than make a sale.  Currently, their products are being derived from the Douglas Fir piling, called Trestlewood II, with selections ranging from flooring, building lumber and timbers, to special products like fireplace mantels.

Trestlewood

Droog Does Materials

I am here in Milan, Italy reporting from the Fuori Salone di Mobile. I’ve seen quite a lot and walked even more! Yesterday we went to see the Droog exhibition close to la Triennale on Foro Buonaparte. The title of the exhibition is post-sustainability. Although I generally gush over the ideas generated through the Droog community, I was a bit apprehensive to see what they produced for Milan under this theme seeing as how all the “green” themed shows have been nothing more than disappointing.

Contrary to my apprehensive feelings, the show was wonderful. It was quite small but thought provoking. The two that I enjoy the most are of a new materials nature. The first is a fence for your yard or a highway made of refused plastic bags (see image above). The bags are strung through a series of vertical, flexible cords that are held taught by a metal frame. Depending on the size and density, some bags are layered, some are overlapping, and some stand a lone. Another beauty in this piece is that the control of design and aesthetic is left up to the owner. Now this fence may not keep enemies apart from each other but it has the potential to serve as a sound barrier or simply a way to draw a line.

The second object is a table made of shredded Elle Magazines. Even today in the digital age, somehow we still fall victim to the magazine collection problem. It made we wonder what size chair we could make if everyone pooled all the magazines and paper propaganda collected at this show- certainly a chair no human could mount alone. Most importantly, what I appreciate about this table is that it is attainable and easy to create- any teenager forced to clean up her room and realizes she has a stack of magazines to the ceiling could simply create a vanity table out of them and not throw away a scrap (not to mention have to carry them all downstairs to the trash)!

It is the simplicity and engagement that really makes Droog objects special. I hope that other attendees alike had a similar reaction. If you were there, by all means share your comments with us! For the rest of you, stay posted, I will be reporting more…

Red Caboose Motel in Strasburg Pennsylvania

Called a “caboose” in America and a “brake van” or “guard’s van” in the UK, the iconic train car has drastically declined in its use over the years with only small railroads using them at times. The first known appearance of a railroad caboose was around 1860 and its first use in the United States followed much later. The word is known to be derived from French, with 18th century records mentioning a “cambose” or “camboose”, describing the cabin on a ship’s deck where food was prepared. Some rail yards are reusing cabooses as maintenance cars, or as “survey trains” after natural disasters to inspect rail lines for damage. Others such as the Red Caboose Motel and Restaurant, are using the cars to create motels, inns and even diners. The Red Caboose was started in 1969 when a man by the name of Don Denlinger was dared to bid on 19 cabooses being auctioned by the Pennsylvania Rail Road. Although Don placed a bid well below the scrap value of the cabooses, he won with the highest bid and found himself at the end of the day with all of the train cars and no idea what to do with them. After mulling over his winnings for some time, he developed the concept of using the decommissioned cabooses to create a motel. Now owned by Larry Demarco, “what started off as a dare has grown into one of Lancaster County’s most unusual motel, with over 40 rooms made from fully restored 25-ton cabooses.”