Today's bulletin features some new recycling developments is the acoustical-tile industry. Since their invention in the 1920s, acoustical ceiling-tiles have become more and more prevalent in construction. Most modern office buildings, and many private homes, use acoustical tile. From the beginning, these products have used recycled materials because they have been inexpensive and widely available.
Most recently, Armstrong, an acoustical-tile manufacturer, has begun to focus its attention on what happens to their products after the consumer is finished with them.
Armstrong World Industries recently launched the Ceilings Reclamation Program, a new initiative designed to keep ceiling panels from landfills by diverting them from renovation projects to Armstrong plants, where they are recycled into new panels.
The company first tested its program during a 1997 renovation project at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. The company recycled 150,000 square feet of mineral fiber ceiling panels for eventual processing into new ceiling tiles at an Armstrong plant in Oregon. Since then, General Motors, Pacificorp, and other facility owners also have participated in the program. "The Ceilings Reclamation Program was created for the environmentally conscious specifier and owner looking for a program to 'close the loop' on sustainable building practices by including ceilings in the process," said Michael J. Fisher, marketing manager for Armstrong's ceiling systems division.
--Recycling Times (Nov 2, 1998)
See Armstrong's web-site for more information.
More information about acoustical ceiling tiles
A list of vendors who manufacture recycled and resource-efficient tiles are available in this bulletin (below).
First, here is some information about a few of their products, excerpted from their company's web-site or other source:
Environmental labeling for Acoustic-Tiles
On the internet, Oikos has a green building product catalogue called Resources for Environmental Design Index (REDI). It is not an all inclusive list, because companies pay a subscription fee to be listed, but it does provide a starting-place for thinking about how to take into account environmental attributes when specifying products. The list below defines REDI's resource efficient and recycled content code that we've included in the vendor list that follows.
(Rating code, according to the Oikos REDI catalogue)
USG Interiors Inc (not coded)
125 S FRANKLIN ST
CHICAGO, IL 60606-4605
Tel: (312) 606-4000
OIKOS - REDI catalogue on the web
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: December 10, 1998
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