Published by Green by Design under Reuse/Recycle

More products are becoming recyclable, and we’re doing more with reused and recycled products. It’s coming to a point where I find myself asking, “You can recycle that?”

Recycling Paints

Shopping for paint recently, I came across recycled paint. This doesn’t mean that some dude at the city dump goes around mixing all the leftovers and reselling them. Recycled paint comes from the manufacturer, produced from leftover paints returned to the factory. It is filtered and sometimes combined with new colors to be distributed and sold again.

The price of recycled paint is much lower than new paint, about 50% less. Most recycled paint is mixed with white, the standard base for new color. These reprocessed paints typically contain at least 50% post-consumer waste. When the paint is 100% recycled, it is labelled reblended.

At this point you may be wondering where can you find this marvel? Some larger home improvement stores are starting to carry recycled paints. I found some at the local Liquidation World, and it was affordable and very good quality. Kelly-Moore’s eCoat is sold through stores in the south and western U.S. There is an online store called Boomerang Recycled Paint that offers a large selection in latex, alkyds, and stains.

Resurf.org

You’re hitting the perfect wave, riding nirvana, and the board splits in half. Bummer! What to do?

Gone are the days of just trashing the board and buying a new one. The green angel on your shoulder is making you think about environmental impacts (she’s fighting the red devil on your other shoulder).

Is there a way to get rid of the board without hurting our environment? Well, as a matter of fact, there is. ReSurf Recycling in Oceanside, CA takes old and broken boards, pulverizes them, and reintroduces the material into concrete and asphalt mixes to used for paving roads as well as lightweight fire-proof roof tiles. Gnarly!

What’s the best way to replace your old faithful surfing buddy? Green Foam Blanks is making new, grade-A blanks (surfboards) out of the stuff that would normally end up in a landfill. Up to now 25% of pre-shaped blanks end up as waste in the manufacturing process. Not anymore.

“We thought about the cradle-to-cradle concept and how we can apply it to surfboards, and right now we’re confident this is the best thing going.” says Joey Santley, one of the masterminds behind Green Foam.

Reused wine casks as hotel

Satisfy your inner oenophile by sleeping in a giant wine cask. That’s right, in the Dutch town of Stavoren, the De Vrouwe van Stavoren Hotel has converted four 14,500-liter wine vats into cozy hotel rooms for two. The rooms, each with its own bathroom and sitting area, were created from giant Swiss drums that once contained Beaujolais from a French chateau.

For about $180 a night, breakfast included (less off-season), you can sleep surrounded by oak, then wake up refreshed and ready for a bike ride along the Zuiderzee and Ijsselmeer Lake, one of the flattest places on earth.

As you can see there are many ways to recycle and reuse. What have you recycled recently? Please tell! Just so long as it’s not chewing gum from under the seat!”