{"id":18752,"date":"2015-07-03T13:15:01","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T17:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18752"},"modified":"2015-07-03T13:15:01","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T17:15:01","slug":"the-waste-biz-new-player-in-the-insulated-concrete-forms-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-waste-biz-new-player-in-the-insulated-concrete-forms-business\/","title":{"rendered":"The Waste Biz: New Player In The Insulated Concrete Forms Business"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n As we’ve noted on a number of occasions, recycling polystyrene foam (aka Styrofoam) poses a number of challenges, all of which make the economics difficult. One good use of this material, though, is in the creation of insulated concrete forms<\/a>, or modular “building blocks” made from concrete and (usually) another insulating material. Manufacturers can reuse Styrofoam in these forms to create a high R value for the building material.<\/p>\n Portland, Oregon-based BluBloc<\/a> is the latest player in this game. According to DJC Oregon<\/a><\/em>, the company is making its forms from a mixture of 85% reused polystyrene foam, and 15% concrete. CEO Michael Miner notes that the average house built from the company’s forms would use 2500 pounds of the material (and keep it out of landfills).<\/p>\n BluBloc isn’t the first player in this market, but it’s good to see new companies which see the benefit of making use of this hard-to-recycling material. Know of other innovative (re)uses of Styrofoam in the building industry? Tell us about them…<\/p>\n Also on our radar this week:<\/p>\n Is single-stream recycling going away?<\/strong> This is a tough one: single-stream recycling does increase the amount of material sent to recycling facilities… but also insures that a percentage of it will go in the trash because of contamination. Glass is one problematic material<\/a> on this front; apparently, cardboard is, also. SE Ohio recycling company Rumpke now offers commercial customers “cardboard only” containers<\/a> to ensure that more of this materials actually gets recycled, and has put together a slide show illustrating the problem.<\/p>\n New screening tool for landfill water contamination:<\/strong> There are lots of reasons you might not want to live near a landfill; water contamination is one of the less obvious (but most dangerous). The US Geological Survey and New Jersey Pinelands Commission has created a new screening tool for estimating the potential risk posed by a given landfill<\/a>. While developed primarily for regulators, there’s no reason landfill owners and managers couldn’t make use of it also. (via Waste Dive<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n