This bulletin highlights ways in which landscape designers, gardeners, and homeowners can save money and improve performance with recycled and environmentally preferable materials and practices.
Northwest Flower and Garden Show
The King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials, Department of Natural Resources hosted another successful demonstration garden at the 1998 Northwest Flower and Garden Show, in February. The show was attended by 85,000 people. This year's garden, designed by Phil Wood, introduced local gardeners and garden designers to several interesting and useful recycled materials. Among the items displayed were:
Please follow this link for a complete list of suppliers
Compost & Compost-Amended Topsoil
The peat-bogs of Canada, so long a source of cheap organic material for soil-amendment, are becoming depleted and peat is becoming increasingly expensive. Fortunately, many processors are producing high-quality organic soil-amendment materials from composts made from municipal yard-waste, biosolids, and farm wastes.
Landscape Mulch - Shredded Wood-Waste
Wood Waste from Construction, Demolition, and Landclearing (CDL) is shredded and used in many ways. Historically, it has been sold as raw material for paper-pulp, "hog-fuel," which is burned in cement kilns and other furnaces and for erosion-control. Several horticultural applications have recently been developed. As a landscape mulch it retains moisture, suppresses weeds, controls erosion, and contributes to soil tilth. As a soil amendment, it breaks down slowly and provides a lasting benefit to the structure of the soil (Soils amended with wood will initially require supplementary nitrogen for vigorous plant growth).
King County examples:
The King County Regional Justice Center is leading the way toward sustainable management practices by specifying the use of "mulching mowers" for the maintenance of RJC lawns. "Grasscycling" means leaving grass on the lawn after mowing. It can be done with any lawn mower, but mulching mowers produce very fine clippings which can be evenly spread and left in the lawn with a minimum of effort. Not only does this reduce the labor of raking, blowing and hauling, it also adds valuable nutrients to the lawn as the grass clippings break down. With these added nutrients, the lawn looks better and the owners may be able to reduce their use of fertilizer. This saves money and reduces the risk of fertilizers contaminating groundwater, streams, and the wastewater system.
Turf areas that receive heavy foot traffic, such as playfields, can benefit from a unique "paving" material made from recycled plastic, called Grasspave. This material consists of little plastic rings, fastened together and supplied in wide rolls, like carpet. First, the soil is prepared and grass-seed is sown, then the Grasspave is unrolled and the grass is allowed to grow up through the rings so that foot traffic or light vehicles will not crush the crowns of the grass-plants. The Grasspave web-site also features recycled plastic materials for other applications, such as wheelchair access to sandy beaches.
Plastic "Lumber," made from recycled plastics, is available for many applications. Because it is unaffected by soil organisms and is non-toxic, plastic lumber is a useful and cost-effective substitute for chemically treated lumber in soil and water contact applications such as fence-posts, bollards, decking and retaining walls
King County's experience:
The Environmental Purchasing Program
The King County Environmental Purchasing Program assists County agencies in implementation of King County Executive Policy CON-7-1-2, which requires agencies to use recycled and other environmentally preferable products "wherever practicable."
The program assembles information about these products and makes it available to specific agency users who can evaluate them and attempt to develop applications in County projects.
These procurement bulletins contain information about the results of product evaluations and other accomplishments of County agencies. We hope this information will help you find ways to use recycled materials in the work of your agency and that you will contact us if we can help you with further information or if you have suggestions.
Updated: June 25, 1998
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