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I'm trying to be as "green" as possible in my kitchen, and recently I heard about ECO by Cosentino, which is 75% recycled raw materials. I was wondering if anyone has ever used ECO, and if so does it compare at all to Silestone, or is it better?
I believe it's more expensive than Silestone, according to what I've heard, and possibly more fragile (recycled glass countertops are more porous than quartz, for instance). But it's so new I don't think anyone has had much experience with them yet.
I think the big box stores in a few places have begun carrying them, so if you live in a major urban area you might want to check the blue store or the orange store.
I saw Ice Stone for the first time today. It is made of recycled glass and cement. It was gorgeous but also very expensive ranging from $80 - $147 sf.
Dh
and I are extremely frustrated that being green always seems to mean paying more green. If green products don't come down in price it is not going to be easy to convince people to make the effort.
DH definition
DH usually means Dear Husband (or, pick your own adjective starting with D).
I've noticed much the same too, that the greenest part about some countertops is how much green is coming out of my pocket! I love the idea, but the corollary is that as product was made out of waste materials, one ought to pay less, not more!
I just went with Ikea Pragel laminate ... the core material, particle board, is made from industrial wood scraps(*). The resin most likely isn't green, but neither are some of the "green" products, and at least
Ikea products
will have used low VOC compounds. Biggest aspect for me is the price ... $60 will cover my whole kitchen, not just a square foot.
* - Just like steel, since all particle board is made of recycled products anyways, they can't use the "made of recycled materials" aspect to advertise.
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Narf, you are so right. Green counters are made of essentially trash. There is no way the purchase of trash is as expensive as mining (or whatever the correct term is) of granite.
I can understand that it may cost more to manufacture a CFL bulb than a incandescent bulb....although I am skeptical that they are simply charging us more because we will ultimately be buying less bulbs.
Hmm....seems I've made another point
Doing the right thing for our environment shouldn't cost us more and should be easy to do. I've been recycling before my community provided it as a routine service. I would take my recyclable trash to a facility every Saturday.
My son is doing a college internship with a minor league baseball team. Yesterday he told me that one night they will be promoting "going green." He said he told it was totally hypocritical as they don't recycle anything anywhere in the stadium. After speaking with the management he has been given the task of getting bids from vendors. He has had some experience in this area as he played a big part in implementing recylcing at his university.
You definitely purchased the closest to green as you can get. One of the big appeals to me is just how green
Ikea products
are.
Much 'greenness' is and always has been hypocritical, unfortunately. I live on an island. When the wind is strongly from the southeast, our beaches become covered with nasty bits of shredded plastic: the recycling from the major urban areas south of us, where it was duly collected, chopped up, and dumped into the ocean, because you can't sell it for enough to pay for the cost of transporting it.
I've come to look on recycling as more or less the equivalent to the community fast days in early New England: possibly good for the communal soul, but of little practical benefit in real life, not the way it really works.
Narf, you are so right. Green counters are made of essentially trash. There is no way the purchase of trash is as expensive as mining (or whatever the correct term is) of granite.
Well, that might not be true, as a lot of granite does come from China, where labor is a lot cheaper. Adding recycled materials (
ie
. glass) to a concrete countertop doesn't justify the huge cost difference compared to one that's 100% concrete, however.
That said, as these companies are pioneers in this industry, I can't blame them for charging more either. There's definitely risk involved in bringing in new products to the market, and as long as buyers are willing to pay the price, they should be rewarded for that risk too.
As these product get more and more proven in the marketplace, new competition will drive the price to a more sensible level. Quartz and resin countertops have gone into that already ... it's just a matter of time before recycled content countertops enter the growth phase and consumers see lower prices.
Quote:
I can understand that it may cost more to manufacture a CFL bulb than a incandescent bulb....although I am skeptical that they are simply charging us more because we will ultimately be buying less bulbs.
Hmm....seems I've made another point
We have CFL's from the late 90's, still in use, so yes, the price is also a matter that we will be buying less in the long run.
Quote:
Doing the right thing for our environment shouldn't cost us more and should be easy to do. I've been recycling before my community provided it as a routine service. I would take my recyclable trash to a facility every Saturday.
I don't mind paying a little more, as honestly, we're paying for it one way or another, whether it be our pocketbooks or our future generation's health. Significantly more, whether in time, energy, or money, though, and it doesn't make sense. I find it quite silly for those who argue how much they're "saving the environment" by scrapping their current car that's still functioning fine for a new car that's constructed with a wide variety of petrochemicals and took a lot of energy to make and transport ... just to get a couple MPG increase.
Much of my recyclables do end up over at my parent's bin, though, as where I'm at now doesn't have separate bins. Never a special trip, though ... purposely using gas to get there just to toss a bag of recyclables away negates the recycling aspect, really.
Quote:
My son is doing a college internship with a minor league baseball team. Yesterday he told me that one night they will be promoting "going green." He said he told it was totally hypocritical as they don't recycle anything anywhere in the stadium. After speaking with the management he has been given the task of getting bids from vendors. He has had some experience in this area as he played a big part in implementing recylcing at his university.
A big THANK YOU! to your son for standing up to their hypocritical ways and doing something about it. Properly executed, it's a win-win situation, as any recycling costs involved gets offset by a lesser cost in the regular disposal.
Quote:
You definitely purchased the closest to green as you can get. One of the big appeals to me is just how green Ikea products are.
Well short of reusing what's already existing, their stuff is usually about as green as it can get for the money.
Besides recycling, the other R's are reduce and reuse, both of which are budget friendly too.
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Harpy, if my memory serves me correctly you live on Hutchinson Island. I had lived in Pt St Lucie for year during the 90's. I had no idea that the shredded plastic was dumped into the ocean. That has to be so disgusting washing up on your beaches. I live on
Long Island
and often see plastic bottles and sytrofoam from coolers washing up on shore. I hope we both see the tide shift and more responsible behaviors become the expected rather than the unexpected.
Address: 1100 Broadway Mall
Hicksville NY 11801 Telephone: 516-681-4532
I hope we both see the tide shift and more responsible behaviors become the expected rather than the unexpected.
Amen to that! Of course, the worst of all is the Russian canning ship that comes around, essentially vaccuming up the ocean offshore and then processing what they want and dumping the rest overboard (all dead by then, of course). That thing is the size of an aircraft carrier.
Amen to that! Of course, the worst of all is the Russian canning ship that comes around, essentially vaccuming up the ocean offshore and then processing what they want and dumping the rest overboard (all dead by then, of course). That thing is the size of an aircraft carrier.
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