" Plastic Free" homes

bernardgreen · 21 Aug 2019

SOURCE

Housing association to build ‘plastic-free’ homes
Accord Housing Association has committed to building ‘virtually plastic-free’ housing as it attempts to reduce the amount of plastic used during construction.

The West Midlands organisation plans to build 12 homes using alternatives to fit kitchens, bathrooms and windows, as well as reducing the amount of plastic used in building materials.

It notes that the building sector is responsible for more than 60 per cent of resource use in Europe and that more than 30-50 per cent of material use is taking place in the housing construction section

mattylad · 21 Aug 2019

But this plastic use is not the problem, if it's used in construction to make a house and is going to last for many years then that's is different to the single-use plastic that is causing problems.

^woody^ · 21 Aug 2019

Stupid token gesture.

How much plastic in a house, and how much can be swapped for alternative anyway? Not much for both is the answer.

conny · 21 Aug 2019

As stated, it's long term use plastic not single use.
Whats the alternative to uPVC windows? Wood? So now more trees will be felled by machines which emit fumes and then transformed by more machines which will use more energy by one form or another.
Clearly not a well thought out plan.

^woody^ · 21 Aug 2019

IIRC, cement manufacture and use has the biggest environmental impact of all construction materials, and its by a long shot.

Perhaps get rid of cement and make houses from plastic.

cwhaley · 22 Aug 2019

Measures like this are just messing with the margins. It has a feel-good factor but in the grand scheme does little. Any replacement material still has to be manufactured, assembled, loaded and transported around the planet by which time the damage is done.

The real issue (the real white elephant nobody wants to talk about) is overpopulation. There are too many people consuming too many things while producing too much waste. We need to take a responsibility over the Earth's increasing population. Few governments seem to focus on it because it stints economic growth. The associated problems will bite us in the future when we're still relying on current resources and they begin running out.

geraldthehamster · 22 Aug 2019

Long term use vs single use makes no difference from an environmental point of view, as it still ends up out there at some point.

uPVC for doors and windows is easy to replace with proper building materials. Rainwater goods can be cast in aluminium. What are the alternatives for plumbing and drainage? Copper and salt-glazed stoneware?

I agree that concrete use also needs to be addressed.

geraldthehamster · 22 Aug 2019

“We believe this type of development hasn’t been done at scale before – there have been a few one off attempts, but nobody has really looked at how we could produce mainstream houses with all the amenities without using plastic.

“We particularly want to remove the plastic from the kitchens and the bathrooms, because even though a house can last for a hundred years or more, the average kitchen and bathroom is changed every few years and we are keen to avoid generating plastic waste. This trans-European project will enable us to work with our European partners to identify plastic free building products. We haven’t yet got a plastic free solution to the electrics for instance, but we will be challenging people in the building products manufacturing industry to help us find solutions.”

"While houses can last for centuries or more, the average kitchen or bathroom is changed every few years, generating plastic waste that is hard to recycle."

https://accordgroup.org.uk/news/201...ssociation-in-uk-to-build-plastic-free-houses

^woody^ · 22 Aug 2019

geraldthehamster said:
While houses can last for centuries or more, the average kitchen or bathroom is changed every few years, generating plastic waste that is hard to recycle

If Accord sorted out their tenants, then it would be 20 and 30 years life like everywhere else.

They really are as clueless as their spokesperson.

JP_ · 22 Aug 2019

What they should do is use recycled plastic products in homes.

That reminds me, maybe I should invest in some recycled plastic joists, just in case ... even if the damp problem doesn't go away completely, they won't got or get eaten by woodworm.

Leofric · 22 Aug 2019

geraldthehamster said:
uPVC for doors and windows is easy to replace with proper building materials. Rainwater goods can be cast in aluminium. What are the alternatives for plumbing and drainage? Copper and salt-glazed stoneware?

Don't know what the environmental impact is of using aluminium, copper, and salt glazed stoneware as alternatives, seems to me that anything that is manufactured has some environmental impact

Leofric · 22 Aug 2019

geraldthehamster said:
the average kitchen and bathroom is changed every few years

Mine isn't

Leofric · 22 Aug 2019

jonbey said:
What they should do is use recycled plastic products in homes.

Recycled plastic products seems a good idea but again I don't know what the environmental impact is of recycling some things.

geraldthehamster · 22 Aug 2019

Recycled plastic joists are for decking; I don't think they are particularly structural.

Recycling or not makes no difference. It's a scam. It makes no difference to the environment whether plastic is discarded one year after manufacture, or 50. It all gets discarded. The organisation this HA is part of is absolutely right to be looking for alternatives.

geraldthehamster · 22 Aug 2019

Leofric said:
Don't know what the environmental impact is of using aluminium, copper, and salt glazed stoneware as alternatives, seems to me that anything that is manufactured has some environmental impact

I bet old-style timber guttering lasts as long as quite a lot of plastic.

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" Plastic Free" homes

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