Monday, July 12, 2010

Stop worrying about plastic and glass bottles


The corporate office being built in Henderson, built up with recycled glass like that being poured out of the bottle. Some 200,000 pounds of Green Stone compose the facade of the 30,000-square-foot office. Empty bottles from Strip bars become building materials
But thanks to a new product that recycled glass containers from two Strip resorts into a decorative rock called Green Stone, that's exactly where those mementos likely landed.

To see how Green Stone works and looks, we have to head down to the $2 million Henderson headquarters of its manufacturer, building-trim and -finish maker Realm of Design. Roughly 200,000 pounds of Green Stone compose the facade for Realm of Design's new corporate office, a castle-like building under construction on Center Point Drive. The 30,000-square-foot building is scheduled to be completed in August.

For Scott McCombs, co-owner of Realm of Design, Green Stone goes beyond this exclusive business opportunity.

"The expense we incur crushing glass into sand is very expensive compared to buying sand," McCombs said. "But it seemed like the right thing to do. Typically, all the glass used here (in Las Vegas) is going into a landfill."

To make Green Stone, Realm of Design crushes the bottles into sand and mixes the crushed glass with cement. As with the glass in Green Stone, the cement is reused, while conventional cement is manufactured from ground rock that's heated to nearly 3,000 degrees, Green Stone's cement comes from ash generated by coal-fired power plants -- ash that's also made for landfills. The result? So here is produced a building product that's virtually 100 percent reused materials.

But experts says, Green Stone's best attribute may be its broader effect on local recycling.

"If we can recycle materials on a greater scale in Las Vegas and provide that as a feedstock to industries that use recycled material for products, we would be that much more attractive to companies looking to bring a plant here," Dorinson said.

Plastic and glass bottles are available. If there is a way to reuse them it would be very much helpful for the environment.

Like most environmentally friendly products, Green Stone has its price which is really very low. It costs Realm of Design 6 cents to 7 cents per pound to make, while sand made of the traditional pulverized rock or silica costs ¼ of a cent per pound to buy.

"I'm making a smaller profit in order to get a new thing to sell," McCombs said.

The company aims at producing shipping glass. At present waste has been a big trouble. If we have an option to recycle bar bottles and plastic bottles, it is definitely good news for us. Besides, this eco-friendly product is very cheap to afford by all

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