Called OLED for Organic Light Emitting Diode – organic because they somehow use carbon and hydrogen (no organic farming here), the Philips people were displaying their version (Lumiblades) at 100% Design today. 

These little dangly things are basically an ultra thin luminated panel. These ones are still in the early phases (sounded like prototypes even), but just think of the possibilities! Philips provided one idea in the top photo, cleverly using the latest technology to represent what’s practically a relic. I’m sure we’ll be seeing them everywhere soon…Sony has already come out with a OLED TV.

If you’re hungry for more, check out: Philips press release, Philips Lumiblade OLED, and OLED-info.com.

I first came across these timeless Voodoo Blue baskets at the UKAware show last April, where I had a nice chat with Azim Hasham there and couldn’t resist buying a couple. I saw them again at the Eco Design Fair in June as well. 

The baskets are made by a women’s cooperative in Kenya. Most of the baskets are made of sisal, which is a great eco product as it is plant-based (from the agave sisalana plant), rapidly renewable and easily manufactured. (They also offer baskets of sustainable banana leaf, too.)

There are lots of fun colours available. The ‘natural’ coloured baskets are, duh, the natural sisal colour. But this means they use no additional dyes, so that’s a plus on the sustainability scale, and, although light, it’s a nice, warm natural colour. The ‘grey’ baskets use charcoal for colouring – also highly sustainable. The ‘sand’ coloured baskets use…wait for it…sand! Ok, I confess I don’t get how they transfer colour from sand, but that’s what he claimed. The other colours use more conventional dyes and, unfortunately, one has to assume they are as bad for the environment as most other conventional dyes.

As for transportation miles, well, the final product comes from Kenya, so not so great. I’m not sure where their raw materials come from, but there’s quite possibly more transportation miles involved there as well.

They get some tentative ethical points for “operating a fair trade policy,” although they don’t seem to be certified, which would provide outside validation of their claim, so it must be taken with a grain of salt. In speaking with Mr. Hasham, though, I don’t have much reason to doubt the claim. He told the story of how hard it was to manage inventory because they never knew when they would receive the finished baskets. The women would take the materials back to their villages to do the weaving and only return with the finished product when they needed some money.

There is little on their website about the company. I found this on the internet (as part of an event description at the Enterprise Centre for the Creative Arts): 

“…Voodoo Blue, a social enterprise producing sisal bags and accessories. The company has been using sisal to rejuvenate the basket weaving tradition of the Akamba women in Kenya since 1995. All products are of exceptional quality and pure design, and are fairly traded with women themselves establishing the buying price.  Azim has forged deals for the products to be sold in Liberty, Heals, Margaret Howell, DKNY and Conran Worldwide amongst others.”

They now have an online store as well as a showroom in Kew (gotta check that out!) and seem to have lots of online outlets for their goods.

Photo by Cheryl Kempton.

What they say:

• They are the only UK manufacturer whose kitchen furniture (cabinet) carcasses use 90-100% post consumer waste timber.  New wood is FSC certified.
• They use a Biomass waste recycling plant for heat (and power in the future) and have invested in machinery that converts scrap kitchens (from people’s homes) into briquettes usable in wood firing boilers.
• Their delivery process minimizes (and, if the photos are an indication, reuses) cardboard packaging.
• The meet ISO 9000 standards for quality management systems.

What I say:

They have some great eco-credential:

• Using post-consumer waste is better than post-industrial waste (which hasn’t had a previous life as a product). 
• They seem to have a real commitment for reducing landfilled waste. 
• They have a published environmental policy.
• Their literature included a certificate of “low formaldehyde emissions” implying their product minimizes added formadlehyde and it’s associated impact on indoor air quality.

I’d like to see more information about their products from a life cycle perspective. For example:

• Where do the raw materials (e.g., recycled and new wood, veneers) come from?  What kind of transportation miles do they have?
• Do they have a programme to reclaim their kitchen furniture from homes once it’s life is complete? 
• When old kitchen furniture is broken down into briquettes, does that mean that the melamine is burned as well? Does that release any pollutants/toxins of concern?

The display I saw at the EcoBuild show was topped with georgeous recycled glass worktops by GLASSeco, which are also mentioned in their catalog. Why aren’t more eco-friendly worktops on the website?  Their catalog also states that FSC wood is used for the handles, but what about the metal?

Their environmental policy states ”Although the Company’s system does not fully comply with the requirements of ISO 14001, it complies with the essentials.”  What would it take for them to meet ISO 14001?

Overall, Chamois seems to have some strong green credentials and the product really did look fantastic at EcoBuild.

Photo from http://www.chamois.co.uk/.

What they say:

“GLASSeco Limited operates from a 10,000sq ft eco factory in Greater London which diverts 5 tonnes of glass every month from the waste-stream.  The new site has been purposely-designed with a tiny carbon footprint: it uses minimal electricity, all water is recycled and, most importantly, we don’t create any waste.

GLASSeco is a genuinely low-carbon product, proudly manufactured in the UK, created entirely from waste materials that were destined for landfill.”

If you like to see how things are made, GLASSeco has a film here for you.

What I say:

It’s great that they can achieve such a high level of recycled glass content, but what’s the other 5+%?  My literature says the binder is “non-emitting epoxy resin binder.”  So, would that be petrochemical based, then?   

Where is all the glass from?  How much is post consumer vs. industrial recycled content?  GLASSeco also uses TV/computer screen glass through NuLifeGlass which is very cool because it means greater opportunity for such electronics to be recycled.  (Unfortunately such sources mean there’s a slight risk of lead leaching, although the levels are very low…see technical specs for details.)

It seems that it is manufactured in London which, for London consumers, means almost no transportation miles – yeah!

Do they offer an end-of-life reclamation programme?  If not, presumably the product would be land-filled (if no other use is found for it)?

I’ll do more on granite at some point in the future, but here I’ll just second GLASSeco’s reference to the labor situation in granite quarries in India in this BBC report.

The final analysis: I’m with Kevin McCloud in loving this material.

Photo from http://www.glasseco.co.uk.

There was one interesting find.  Bottle Alley Glass offers glass products (tiles, worktops, lighting, etc) “made totally from glass recovered from household and commercial waste.”   

It seems that it has taken a while for recycled glass production to get to the point of producing sheet glass that can be used on worktops/countertops, so I find this to be a very exciting development.  The product is beautiful and has many application possibilities.

What they say:

“Glass makes up around 7% of the average household dustbin and in 2001 over 2.5 million tonnes of this material was landfilled…. Glass is unique in that it can be recycled indefinitely without loss of quality.…Making glass creates gas and CO2, but recycling glass into new products has several environmental benefits:

• Energy saving
• Lower emissions
• Reduced landfill
• Less quarrying

If recycled glass is used to make new bottle and jars, the energy needed in the furnace is greatly reduced. After accounting for the transport and processing needed, 315kg of CO2 is saved per tonne of glass melted.  Recycling two bottles saves enough energy to boil water for five cups of tea.”

What I wonder:

This product has some strong eco credentials.  However, to have a better understanding of the product’s life cycle, some more information would be helpful.  For example, what transportation is involved in sourcing the raw materials (recycled glass)?  The offices are in the UK (East Sussex).  Is the manufacturing plant in the same location?  I suspect it is, which would make this a local product (to London and England).  It could be even more eco if green energy is used; maybe it is but I couldn’t find anything on their website about that.  Finally, what happens when the product has finished its life? It presumably can’t be recycled with household recycling waste.  Will the company take back the glass to be reused?

True linoleum (not the petrochemical-based vinyl sheet flooring often called linoleum) is a fantastic flooring product, providing a hard floor alternative to carpet, yet it’s softer than a wood floor.

Linoleum is made of cork and wood flour, pine tree rosin, linseed oil (from flax – an eco friendly crop), and hessian/burlap (jute) – how cool is that!  It is easy to maintain and durable enough to be popular in commercial applications. According to one source it lasts 2-3 times longer than vinyl flooring. With its renewed popularity recently, there are lots of colour and pattern options available, as well as fun borders.

Forbo Marmoleum is the most popular brand, but it is also made by Armstrong, Johnsonite (not sure that this one is in the UK), and Tarkett.

Cork is another great option but I’ll save that for another entry.

Photo by tinabinaboobops.