We have all stayed at rubbish hotels but this one is a little different, it’s a hotel made entirely out of rubbish.

The hotel is made up of approximately twelve tonnes of rubbish collected from Europe’s beaches. It has been built as an artistic method of raising awareness about the throwaway culture that we live in and to highlight the coastline’s worrying levels of pollution.

The hotel is located in the world famous tourist city of Rome and has been created by German artist HA Schult. The distinguished guest list of the hotel includes eco-warrior and Danish fashion model Helena Christensen.

Whilst this may be seen as a bit of fun by some, there is a very serious underlying message that we are ignorant about rubbish and resources. We currently consume far beyond the earths capacity of resources and at some point something must give.

To some extent the increased awareness of recycling has largely determined that our throw away lifestyles can be maintained safe in the knowledge that rubbish will be recycled. This fails to address the true underlying problems and the need to reduce our rubbish, where this is not possible then reuse should be preferential to recycling.

This is a value that BuilderScrap can assist with in relation to construction materials, we are always seeking to maximise the life cycle of products and resources by providing a platform to do so.

It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that we do everything we can to reduce the amount of consumption that we are currently inflicting on our planet, after all the earths resources are finite.

The Welsh Assembly Government set out plans to create a zero-waste society.

Welsh environment minister Jane Davidson spoke about the countries new waste strategy “Towards Zero Waste”.

While the minister was eager to show she was ‘broadly supportive’ of methods that get results, she made it clear that Welsh would not go down the route of punishing or rewarding those involved in the programme.

She completely ruled out copying schemes like Recycle-Bank which looks likely to be used across London after being supported by Mayor Boris Johnson and his waste advisor Isobel Dedring

Ms Davidson said: “In England the focus is on how to make people recycle more – in Wales we recognise it’s more important to stop this waste in the first place.”

“We believe that our plans – including separate food waste collections and smaller bins – will do this.”

“Costly measures like those adopted in England, such as retaining a weekly bin collection or rewarding people for throwing more recyclable rubbish away, won’t.”

Welsh targets will aim for at least 70% of waste recycled by 2025 and cut carbon by 27%.

The Welsh minister said Wales has risen its recycling more than any other country in the UK, with an increase of 30% in the past decade beating England who has only managed a 25% increase.

Wales also were the first in the UK to introduce Landfill Allowance Scheme and have passed every target set out under it.

BuilderScrap supports the Welsh waste strategy!

Caroline Spelman the Environment Secretary has announced a complete review of how rubbish is disposed of in Britain, she promised a “zero waste economy”

She also went on to speak about how biodegradable waste, like food could no longer be allowed to just rot in landfill. This move could will most likely lead to councils introducing some sort of slop bucket for waste food to be collected separately.

Mrs Spelman also went on to say that aluminium, glass and paper can not be allowed to landfill if we are to reach our goals.

“We need a new approach to waste,” she said as she announced the review yesterday. “We cannot keep putting recyclable and biodegradable material into landfill.”

Doretta Cocks of the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collection said that many households did not want slop buckets because of the odour and the danger of attracting wildlife.

Wrap, the Government’s waste watchdog, said that in areas where separate food collections have already been introduced — roughly half the councils in England — people have reported a high level of satisfaction.

This week I’ve scoured the internet to find the most unusual building designs from around the Globe, it turns out I needn’t have bothered. All I have to do is look to our cousins from over the Atlantic; I have looked through a host of different building design and compiled my top 3.

Third place is located in Orlando, Florida; is this very appetising McDonald’s restaurant. This does the marketing for itself, anytime someone sees this they’re going to fancy a few French fries and maybe even a shake to go with that!

In second place we have Wonderworks another from Orlando, Florida. This design really turns things onto its head. The three story,  82 foot tall building has been flipped on its triangular top and squashed into the pavement. Inside things get even crazier with a hurricane ride which has winds of up to 65 mph, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake experience and a Titanic exhibit.

The winner caught my eye from the moment I saw it as it is very close to my heart. We all drink a little bit too much, as a collective nation we drink far more than recommended. John Milkovisch from Southern Pacific Railroad has the perfect way to reuse all the beer cans he drinks, he crushed the cans and used them to decorate his entire house it took him 18 years to complete. It may not be the most cleverly designed or particularly abstract in relation to shape. I just love wondering what was going through his mind when he first came up with this plan and obviously BuilderScrap loves any reuse or recycling building projects and this is certainly that. Sadly he passed away in 1988, thankfully a non-profit company has purchased his home and it is now classed as visionary art.

If you have any strange and wonderful architectural designs that you know of why not send them in.

I read with great interest an interview in the Sunday Times this weekend with actor Jeremy Irons; he stated his fears of the implications of continued population growth and the associated impacts upon the planet and its resources.

Jeremy Irons has propelled himself into a position as a green campaigner and in the course of the interview declared his ambition to produce a documentary about sustainability and waste disposal in much the same way as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. He is currently seeking a wealth of expert opinion as well as seeking appropriate funding in order to produce the documentary, before stating his ambition to hopefully make it into a movie.

On the issue itself Irons told the Sunday Times “One always returns to the fact that there are just too many of us, the population continues to rise and it’s unsustainable” before continuing to add “I think we have to find ways where we’re not having to scrap our effluent junk and are a really sustainable planet”.

This made me recall a seminar I recently attended which stated that we currently consume four planets worth of resources, clearly an unsustainable level; most will agree with Irons that it is something that requires our urgent focus as a global community.

Irons went on to discuss the need for a new economic vision as a response to the global financial crisis. “I don’t think things can ever be the same again. The next generation will have to think laterally and find ways to cope with this”.

At BuilderScrap this is something that we are well aware of, the consumptive nature of society in the western world places resources under immense strain, in recent years we have seen and heard of the pressures on resources such as fossil fuels, timber and water to mention a few. We must ask how this can be achieved without damaging the economic climate and promote green initiatives and innovations.

We also recognise that this consumptive nature must be reduced; goods and materials seem to be given much shorter life spans than necessary. In some cases in the construction industry we witness manufactured materials that are sent to landfill without ever being taken out of its packaging let alone used. Part of the economic vision must be to cut out this waste and extend the life of materials and products.

With this principle in mind Irons launched his own attack on the throwaway society “Why does it make sense for us all to be buying a lot of motor cars, selling our old ones and scrapping them? Why don’t we make cars that last for 40 years? We could”. Irons himself says he runs “very old motor cars”.

Undoubtedly examples exist across most industries, our experience at BuilderScrap predominantly within the construction industry shows that it is possible to prolong the life of building material. In the past as a society we have been too quick to throw away material and buy new, clearly a more sustainable approach means that we could extend the life of this material by reusing or recycling before disposing. BuilderScrap is a platform that exists to facilitate such behavioural changes.

Irons summed up by stating that we all need to live less decadently, a need to recycle before replacing goods and the need for wealth to spread about. He concluded “There’s a long way to go”.

If you are considering a new home for the future why not take a look at the eco friendly alternatives to living?  The BuilderScrap team have been looking into substitutes for conventional buildings which can be used for a variety of purposes including permanent homes, a holiday house, tree top dining or a hotel bar.  When I came across companies who specialise in building tree houses and eco lodges I was instantly enthralled with the idea of living Swiss Family Robinson style.  The tree houses are constructed in wood, and as implied by the name, are built in and around trees.  Many of the designs I’ve come across are beautiful and resemble something from a fairy tale, however I don’t know if I could bring myself to reside in one on a permanent basis, not only because of my fear of heights but also having lived in the UK all my life I know how cold and brutal our weather can be.  Trying to sleep in a tree house whilst one of the storms of the last winter are threatening to bring your idyllic castle in the trees down around you simply doesn’t appeal to me.  However, using the tree houses as holiday homes or as a relaxing part of a hotel experience are both appealing ideas and something I hope will become more available in the future. 

For those not quite radical enough to consider living in tree houses in the rather harsh and unpredictable climate of the UK there are other ways to help ensure your buildings are environmentally friendly.  Recycling is a great way to help the environment, whether you’re recycling your morning paper, old shoes or construction waste.  Research the best ways to ensure your home will be eco friendly for the future such as improving insulation and the use of solar panels.  And of course reusing as often as possible.  Using the builders exchange site BuilderScrap can help bring a stop to construction waste going to landfill and help to save our environment.  By seeing more building materials being reused by other contractors, charities and others in the third sector we are not only being more eco friendly but are also helping our local community.

Readers… down your Builders surplus supply.  We’re in a festive mood here at BuilderScrap.com. The turkeys have been purchased and Grandma’s itching to help out with the Christmas Pudding. This post looks at a number of behaviours relating to food purchasing and consumption at home as well as growing your own fruit and vegetables and composting in the garden. Table 22 presents the findings for four food-related behaviours using the stages of change response scale employed throughout this report.

In total almost nine out of ten (88%) respondents reported that they were already wasting less food, with three-quarters (75%) saying they were “already doing this and intend to keep it up” and 13% “already doing this though I’d like to do it more”. This shows an increase since 2007, when less than two-thirds (63%) reported they were “already doing this and intend to keep it up”.

Nearly half (46%) of respondents with a garden reported that they were already composting household or garden waste (the equivalent of 43% of all respondents), with one fifth (20%) having rejected this behaviour and a further one fifth (20%) having either not heard of this or not thought about it. Those who were already composting household food and garden waste included people who had a compost heap or composter at home as well as those who were using composting collections provided by their council. The majority (62%) of respondents indicated that their council provided a collection for garden waste and a third (34%) for food waste. One half (51%) of all respondents who had a garden said they normally used a council collection for garden waste (a slight decrease from 55% in 2007), and one quarter (25%) of all respondents said they normally used a council collection for food waste (an increase from 20% in 2007).

One third (33%) of respondents with gardens reported that they were already growing their own fruit and vegetables (the equivalent of 30% of all respondents), with a slightly lower proportion (29%) reporting that they had rejected this behaviour. One in ten (10%) were contemplating it whilst nearly one fifth (17%) had either not heard of this or not thought about it.

Of the five measures covered in Table 22 respondents were least likely to be already buying fish from sustainable sources and intending to keep this up (only 26% were at the maintenance stage). A large group of respondents (43%) were classified at the pre-contemplation stage – indicating that they had either never heard about this or that they had not really given it any thought. A relatively high proportion (17%) of respondents were left unclassified on this measure, which included just over one in ten (12%) answering not applicable (implying that not all consumers buy fish).

Here at BuilderScrap.com we’re not all about Builders Supplies. This post looks at our recycling habits, so ditch those plastic bags!

As well as asking about people’s current behaviours and their willingness to act, the survey also covered how often people undertook these behaviours (ranging between always and never) as shown in Figure 9. As discussed in the previously, the vast majority (91%) of respondents said they were recycling items rather than throwing them away. Just over half (56%) of all respondents said they “always” did this, 30% said they did this “very” or “quite often”, and 7% said they only did this sometimes.

Most respondents (84%) reported that they were already taking their own shopping bags. When respondents were asked how often they took their own shopping bags when shopping, over half of respondents said they always did this (56%), while a further 20% said they did this very or quite often.
Three quarters (76%) of respondents said they reused items like plastic bottles, tubs, jars, envelopes or paper, although the frequency of reuse varied considerably. Just over a quarter (28%) of respondents said they always reused these items, around a third (33%) said they reused them very or quite often but a quarter (24%) said they only did this sometimes or occasionally. Similar proportions of respondents reported that they never took their own shopping bag when shopping (10%) and never reused items like plastic bottles, tubs, jars, envelopes or paper (13%).

Note

In the UK, there have been two voluntary carrier bag objectives: (i) WRAP introduced a target to reduce the environmental impact of carrier bags by 25% by the end of 2008, based on a 2006 baseline. (ii) In December 2008, the Government and leading supermarkets agreed to a 50% reduction in the number of carrier bags being given out to customers by May 2009.

At BuilderScrap.com we’re not just interested in building supplies. We love finding out about the eco-behaviours of the general public. In this survey respondents were asked to consider their current behaviour and willingness to act in relation to five recycling, composting and reusing behaviours (using the stages of change response scale). A breakdown of responses from the 2009 survey is provided in Table 20, dividing respondents into the five summary groups associated with the stages of change scale.

When asked whether they “recycle more items rather than throwing them away‟ a large majority (91%) of respondents fell into the maintenance category (including all those currently acting and those who may not be doing it as much or as often as they would like). This represents a significant increase in this behaviour since the 2007 Defra survey, in which 70% of respondents reported that they were already recycling more items than throwing them away. Table 21 summarises these results.

Respondents were asked about taking their own shopping bags when they went shopping and also about the frequency of doing this. The majority (84%) of respondents reported that they were already taking their own shopping bags and intending to continue (the maintenance stage), with only small numbers of respondents at each of the other stages. It is relevant to note that there has been a reduction in the availability of single use carrier bags over the last two years, informed by voluntary agreements between the Government and leading retailers

Most respondents were also reusing items like plastic bottles and glass jars, with three quarters of respondents reporting they were maintaining this behaviour. One in ten (11%), however, were still at the pre-contemplation stage and had not considered doing this before, and a similar proportion (8%) had rejected the behaviour.

Slightly fewer than half (43%) of respondents said they were already composting household food or garden waste and intended to keep this up (the maintenance stage) while a fifth were at the pre-contemplation stage. A further fifth had thought about composting household food or garden waste but had rejected the idea. Those who were already composting household food and garden waste included people who had a compost heap or composter at home as well as those who were using composting collections provided by their council.

Of the five items covered, respondents were least likely to be checking whether an item could be recycled before purchasing. For this behaviour, nearly half (49%) of respondents fell into the pre-contemplation stage – having never thought about doing this or never heard of this. Nearly a third (29%) of respondents said they were already doing this (the maintenance stage), while 14% had rejected the idea.

This post from BuilderScrap.com concerns not just building materials but also the recycling of common waste.  Consistent with 2007, 83% of respondents said there was a bottle or recycling bank in their area. However, reported usage of these facilities had increased slightly compared with 2007 (see Table 18). Around three-quarters (71%) of respondents said they made use of recycling banks, an increase of six percentage points since 2007.

Respondents who said that they used their local recycling facilities were then asked what type of items they took there (see Table 19 for a full breakdown). People were most likely to take glass items to bottle banks or recycling centres – with nearly three quarters (70%) of respondents reporting taking these to be recycled. This is slightly less than the 76% who reported that they used their doorstep recycling collection for glass. Just under half (47%) took clothes to be recycled. Around a third of respondents reported that they took paper items, cardboard, shoes or tins and cans to their local recycling banks. It is likely that this is influenced by levels of doorstep collection for certain items, for example door-step collections for glass and clothes recycling are less widespread than paper.

In 2007, similar proportions of respondents were taking each of these items to recycling facilities. Where there had been changes in recycling, the largest increases were for tins, cans and foil, and paper items where the proportion of respondents who said they took these to be recycled had increased by eight percentage points.