Why shall we be environmentally responsible in the house?

　
We all have heard about environmental issues that need to be considered right now. I do believe, that each of us can do their little things in order to tackle this huge environmental problem. In the interior design world, we also can also act positively and reduce the waste issue, stop depleting natural resources and take care of our health, while still living in beautiful houses.
In this post, I am reviewing some of the environmental issues we are facing and then will discuss and present some of the directions we can take in order to be more environmentally responsible. The list is far from being exhaustive, but a starting point for further discussions.

　
In 2005, 1360 scientists ( The millennium Ecosystem Assessment, MEA) concluded:
Human activity is putting such a strain on natural functions of the Earth that th ability of the planet to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted.

Global warming

Even though some sceptical people claim the contrary, it is scientifically demonstrated that the continuation of historical trends of greenhouse gas emission will result in additional warming over the 21st century. Current projections point a global increase of 2F to11.5F (1.1C to 6.4C) by 2100. The consequences are:
sea-level rise that will gradually inundate coastal areas and increase beach erosion and flooding from coastal storms,
changes in precipitation patterns,
increased risk of droughts and floods,
threats to bio diversity,
and a number of challenges for public health.
(http://www.pewclimate.org/)

Another worry is all the wastes created by human activity.

Solid waste

Material resulting from human and animal activities that are useless, unwanted, or hazardous are considered solid waste. They can be classified as garbage (decomposable waste from food) or rubbish (non decomposable)

- Landfills
Each year 111million tonnes of controlled waste (household, commercial and industrial estate) are disposed off in the UK in landfill sites. Some waste from sewage sludge is also placed in landfill sites, along with waste from mining and quarrying. There are over 4000 landfill sites in the UK. As landfill site decomposes, methane is released in considerable quantities (over 1.5million tonnes in the UK each year) Methane in the UK is 3% of greenhouse gas emission UK.
Furthermore the leachate fluids formed from decomposing waste can permeate through the underlying and surrounding geological strata, polluting ground water which may be used for drinking water supplies.

- Incineration
Incineration is the second largest waste disposal method in most countries. In the UK, approximately 5% of household waste, 7.5% of commercial waste and 2% of industrial waste is disposed off by incineration. When burning waste, a large part of energy, CO2 and other potentially hazardous pollutant is given off. Modern incinerator, however can use this waste energy to generate electricity. Toxic molecules are also released in the atmosphere, including Sulfur, nitrogen oxide, ash, unburned residues...

- Anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion is a more sustainable way of getting rid of wastes. It produces a big quantity of methane which is used to generate electricity. Liquid and solid fertiliser are formed and can be sold to cover the operating costs. In the UK small number of anaerobic plant.
　　
- Recycling
in 2003-2004 in he UK households gave 30.5 million of waste to recycling which represents about 17% of waste collected for recycling. (The UK can still do better if we compare it with other countries who collect 50% of waste for recycling).

Some more interesting figures:

In the US 4billion pounds of carpets are being sent to landfill every year!
32 load trucks of waste are created for every load truck o goods produced
Within a year, 90% of everything made in the US is thrown "away"
In the US Buildings produce 30 to 40% of atmosphere emissions and 9% of CO2 worldwide.
If everyone in the world were to live like an average person in the minority high income countries, an additional 2.5 planets would be required (Global footprint network, using united nation statistics 2007)

The example of PVC

Unwanted material are not alway in solid or liquid form, they may also be gases.
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) is an example of a material that is associated with toxic gases at each stage of its life cycle: production, use and end of life. Common household products such as vinyl flooring and shower curtains, are made of material produced from a manufacturing process that includes chlorine gas, hydrochloric acid, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, and dioxin. These substances are separately or collectively carcinogenic, explosive, deadly or outlawed as weapons. Thought meant to be a closed system of production, manufacturing facilities of PVC rank among the top polluter in the US.
Yet, the toxicity of PVC is not limited to its production. Once in use in seemingly benign everyday product such as garden hose and phone cords, PVC off gases the substances of which it is made causing at best respiratory illness and at worst cancer.
The problems with PVC persists at the end of its useful life. When PVC is discarded in a landfill, it leaches substances that degrade air, soil and water quality. PVC has also been incinerated routinely, heated PVC releases hydrochloric acid and dioxin into the air, gases that threaten human health at very low level (Acherman and Massey 2003). And PVC is only one of the many products that manifest the toxic effect of material from its component part through its manufacture and use to the end of its useful life.

What are the solutions? What can we do?

It is interesting to say again what issues we are facing with the way we live in the rich countries, but this wouldn’t be so interesting if we were not talking about what can be done!
W Mc Donough and M Braungart 2002 "Cradle to cradle: remaking the way we make things" propose a brand new way of manufacturing things and of living. Far from making us feel guilty about what we consume, they propose a constructive way of making things. They propose a new industrial revolution that would be responsible and clean.
　
So far, we have seen the Cradle to grave concept:
Produce something that end up into landfill... it is wasted.

Recycling

Recycling is meant to recover valuable material in existing products, preparing them for another useful life. Yet much recycling is actually down cycling, which causes the material value to fall over time (Mac Donough and Braungart 2002) Melting plastics from beverage containers such as milk or water, often mixes a variety of different polymers. The consequence is a lower quality material that can only be used in a product of lower quality such as plank for decking or park benches. When this product has reached the end of its useful life, even down cycling to a less valuable material is not probable and the product, nd the material ultimately is discarded in a material crave.

Cradle to Cradle

Braungart and Mc Donough: "Cradle to cradle design, in contrast with cradle to grave design, does not use nature as a tool but rather as a model. (...) The key is not to make human industries and system smaller, but to design them to get bigger and better in a way that replenishes, restores and nourishes the rest of the world".
Contrary to down cycling which reduced the value of the material in a cradle to grave scenario, "up-cycling" is a process in a cradle to cradle design that makes materials more valuable.
A particular nylon fiber used in carpet, for example may be retrieved and transformed into a more valuable material, a fibre that is inherently stain resistant, inherently colour fast, and indefinitely recyclable. (McD and B) In this way the fibre is not de- but re-materialized, bringing with it the time, energy, money and materials used to generate it initially, and providing a raw material that is fully prepared for re-manufacturing. Because the materials in (such) a technical metabolism are never consumed, products of a technical metabolism are meant to continuously circulate.
　
Application to Interior Design

When it comes to design our interiors, we should keep in mind the planet, as it is our interest to. More and more manufacturer are taking the planet into consideration and we must source products that are made by responsible manufacturers. Cradle to cradle carpets are now on the market, as well as pieces of furniture.
It is important to source product locally as this will reduce their carbon footprint and help the local economy. Material should come from a renewable source. We should try to re-use whenever it is possible, be creative and make sure that whatever we include in a scheme won’t end up in a landfill and risk polluting the soil, air and water by releasing toxic materials. It is important to check all the components of a product to make sure that it will easily and cleanly bio-degrade.
　

Emmanuelle Lemoine


Bibliographie:
Environmantally responsible design , Dr Louise Jones, Wiley 2008
Cradle to cradle Braungart and Mc Donough, Vintage 2009
(http://www.pewclimate.org)/