Re: GBlist: Bio-waste bales

darons@payette.com
Sat, 22 Mar 1997 16:10:19 -5000

->This seems like the act of desperation. ...
->we-got-to-put-this-stuff-somewhere mentality...a houses-as-landfill
->concept. Surley there is a higher-and-better use than this volume-intensive
->method of aggregating crap into building elements. To my mind it lacks
->elegance, and, in an urban environment where space is at a premium ( or
->should be) the idea of 18" thick walls everywhere seems bizzare. What would
->Bucky Fuller have said about this one? Talk about doing-less-with-more.

These certainly are desperate times. We are currently contemplating
using plastic lumber (trash) for a roof deck. This option seems
elegant in that we can build a deck that will last longer than its
wood cousins, and that will be "grown" locally. It avoids dumping
this plastic in a land fill. However, it doesn't feel so good from
the standpoint that it is supporting a market for recycling petroleum
products rather than taking a stand against producing the stuff in
the first place.

Incredibly the plastics industry is promoting itself as the miracle
material that makes our lives worth living. Are we doing ourselves
any favors by promoting the use of recycled plastics???

**********************

Daniel Arons
Architect
Payette Associates, Inc
(617)342-8201 ext. 324
darons@payette.com
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