ZeroLandfill.net Blog

An X-Ray of the ZeroLandfill waste stream

August 4th, 2008

In 2008, ZeroLandfill NE Ohio has distributed over 37,000 pounds of materials and samples donated by 50 local architecture and interior design firms as well as interior product manufacturers. Some findings yielded by the close handling and sorting of this viable material stream :

~THE THREE RING BINDER remains the largest classification of materials (by cubic volume) that ZeroLandfill is handling this year, which is consistent with our past project experience in 2006 and 2007. It appears that the convenience of a three ring binder is waning in the industry…while convenient for the manufacturer binders quickly become inconvenient for the users. Couple of reasons, based on discussions with industry participants: binders are maintenance intense, requiring lots of handling to keep current; they occupy a lot of shelf space, space that could be dedicated to other facility needs; and they are difficult to deconstruct. A typical three ring binder is difficult to recycle, it is made up of a minimum of 5 separate materials (vinyl skin, cardboard inserts, polymer divider elements, paper contents, and metal rings). This year alone, ZeroLandfill NE Ohio has recycled 1.5 tons of paper contents removed from nearly 1,000 donated three ring binders. A quick deconstruction experiment on a randomly selected binder showed that it takes a minimum of 10 minutes to properly dismantle a typical three ring binder (if you have the right tools) and separate the 5 elements for recycling/disposal.

The general consensus from industry participants this year – either offer a recycling project to reuse existing three ring binders that become obsolete, or completely ban the binder in favor of oniine reference materials. Other suggestions include offering an alternative method of housing printed material such as a single material binder or reference box that can easily be managed during its useful life and then dismantled and recycled at end of life.

~THE CARPET BOOK is close behind the three ring binder in terms of cubic volume collected. The problems of managing three ring binders in the industry as discussed above can be applied to carpet books as well. Carpet books tend to be maintenance intense (keeping up with discontinuations and line changes), occupy a lot of shelf space, and are difficult to deconstruct for recycling in most (but not all) cases. ZeroLandfill NE Ohio has collected several thousand carpet books to date that are deemed obsolete or unneeded by the specifier and mfg. rep. community. Many are being picked up for use by local educators and artists, but the supply outweighs the demand at the moment. As ZeroLandfill deconstructs this mountain of cardboard books and swatch inserts (separating the two materials for recycling), it is amazing to see how much glue is used to secure a carpet sample to the page. The ZeroLandfill project team and volunteer corps currently suffers from Carpet Tunnel Syndrome, a temporary condition caused by the repeated removal of carpet samples from carpet books.

As one volunteer quipped this past week while pulling carpet books apart, there is somebody in a carpet mill right now gluing carpet samples into new books while we pull apart these old carpet books. Reforming this method of sampling follows the same lines as the suggested solutions to the three ring binder dilemma: mfgs can offer a recycling program for discontinued books (some are doing this already), or provide an online reference system for specifiers to start the color/pattern/tech spec. decision making process before moving into live samples. Until this portion of managing samples is reformed, the mountain of carpet books will continue to grow unabated.

Not documented here is the adverse impact of rising energy costs for transporting and handling of these two commodities on the manufacturer’s bottom line. While both three ring binders and carpet books are heavy in terms of net shipping weight, a fair amount of air is delivered with the goods as well. Is there a better use of the marketing and transportation dollar by the manufacturer to ensure specifiers receive the information needed to protect and defend the integrity of their design and the needs of their customers?

Feel free to comment and share your ideas…

Entry Filed under: ZL Story