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Before you buy...
Recycled Content Finishes
Related Product Advice
Using recycled material to protect your home from the elements is a great way to close the loop on resource use and waste. Recycled content is most prevalent in metal products, simply because of the ease and availability of recycling.
Metal siding (steel or aluminum) is the most common type of siding with a high recycled content. Although metal has a very high embodied energy in its initial production, its ability to be recycled over and over makes it a good choice for energy conservation.
Some vinyl is also available as a recycled-content option, but fewer of these exist. It is unclear to what extent the recycled vinyl market meets the demands and concerns of “environmental friendly” consumers. While recycled vinyl siding is available, the amount of recycled or reused material as well as the embodied energy going into the product are not clear. Vinyl siding, despite manufacturer’s claims of recycle-ability, appears to be less environmentally friendly because of the vast array of additives in vinyl. Vinyl manufacturers do, however, reuse their own pre-consumer waste and scrap in their finished products. The reuse of materials is always a benefit.
Other choices available are known as reconstituted products. These include products that take normal waste and bind them together to form a new product.
All recycled-content materials vary in their percentage of waste material as well as the source of the material. Waste material, even for siding, may come from various sources including wood fiber, newspaper and even agricultural waste.
With the seemingly limitless technology, recycled or engineered siding products offer solutions for almost all environmental friendly homeowners.
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Before you buy... Low & No VOC Wood Coatings
Water-based, low-odor and low-VOC content wood finishes are available in gloss, semi-gloss, satin, and solid finishes for interior applications.
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