Gardening in the Sky - Balcony & Rooftop Planters Forum

The Ultimate Recycling Statement

In keeping with DeepStream Designs’ mantra:  ”Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” I wanted to create a planter and recycling bins with the lowest impact on the environment that I could for our commercial clients that are working on projects striving for LEED certification.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a Green Building Rating System, developed by the US Green Building Council, which provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

 

To that end, DeepStream Designs is now building planters with the same sophisticated design as the Mariner planter using HDPE plastic lumber made from recycled milk jugs.  The LEED Commercial Collection is a no-nonsense “set and forget it package” perfect for restaurants, commercial installations and residential projects where minimal maintenance is as important as aesthetics.

As with all planters, the plants themselves help cool the earth,  cleaning the air by producing oxygen as they convert and trap carbon.  In addition, the Commercial LEED Garden Planters I designed for DeepStream reduce man’s impact on the environment because:

• It’s RECYCLED and RECYCLABLE!

- Using recycled plastic “lumber” planks eliminates the cutting of trees and uses far less energy to ship and manufacture.

- The plastic lumber DeepStream uses is made from recycled post-consumer HDPE (high-density polyethylene) from milk jugs and other polyethylene packaging that might other wise be destined for landfills.

- The planter and recycle bin liners are also both made from pre-consumer LDPE ( low–density polyethylene).

- Aluminum legs and straps, along with plastic components are 100% recyclable.

• Maintenance Free!

- Uses no energy, chemicals, or materials to maintain.

- Plastic lumber never needs to be painted, oiled, or stained and won’t rot, splinter or split.

- Proprietary extruded legs of 6063-T5  aluminum are finished with a durable etched marine anodized finish and HDPE non-scuff feet.

- Stainless steel fasteners are installed with dialectric paste to prevent corrosion.

- Modular design facilitates easy repair should a product be damaged.   Recycle the damaged piece and receive a replacement piece at DeepStream’s manufacturing cost, using their Core Replacement Program.  Don’t throw away that valuable product!

• Colors won’t fade - Ultra-violet stabilizers used in the lumber ensure colors look as vibrant decades from now as they do today.
• Cost Effective - Working with recycled plastic lumber not only reduces production costs, but it also requires NO MAINTENANCE, reducing the life-cycle-cost of ownership over time compared to wood Garden Planters.

While the plastic lumber I have specified for DeepStream is still full 3/4″ thick tongue and groove planking with a simulated wood grain, and only a few cents a square foot less than natural hardwood lumber, several aspects of Commercial LEED Garden Planters and Recyclers reduce the manufacturing cost without cutting quality so that DeepStream can pass along the savings to its customers:

• Planter Boxes and waterproof liners with drainage are stocked in specific sizes to eliminate waste.
• Planing, sanding, and hand-rubbed finish are eliminated taking hours off of production time and saving energy.

Optional drain attachments with overflow control on the liners allow  planters to be used in any interior or exterior installations.

Planters with liners ship fully assembled, just add dirt, or they can be dissembled for shipping or flat storage in 15 minutes.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: balcony planters, containter gardening, custom planter, garden planters, green roof, landscape architect, large planters, patio planter, planter box, plastic planters, restaurant planter, roof garden, rooftop planters, wood-planter

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 at 6:07 am and is filed under Issues & Solutions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.