What products do you think will be banned/worth avoiding using?

[CalvinHobbes]

Hi, just been watching a you tube video showing the extent of products that have asbestos. I know gas boilers are going to go extinct for environmental reasons but what else can you forseee turning into a toxic handling?

[nod]

Your unlikely to come across asbestos in modern buildings Post 90s 

Gas boilers will be around long after all of us are gone 

[Conor]

Our understanding of materials and chemicals and their impacts on environment / biology are leagues above where they were even a couple decades ago. I'd be surprised if there was anything we currently use that would turn out to be as nasty as asbestos in a few decades.

 

One thing that I do think needs to change is recycling. What happens at then end of the life of a building? He do we deal with all the plastic mixed in with the concrete and wood? E.g. plastic fibres in concrete, or ICF. There's no consideration for end of life logistics in modern building.

[ToughButterCup]

Sheets of polyurethane insulation.

 

Disgusting stuff to cut. I wore a full suit of armour,  had dust extraction on full power and it still got in my throat, eyes , ears , knickers . Ughhhh.

[MikeGrahamT21]

1 hour ago, Conor said:

Our understanding of materials and chemicals and their impacts on environment / biology are leagues above where they were even a couple decades ago. I'd be surprised if there was anything we currently use that would turn out to be as nasty as asbestos in a few decades.

 

One thing that I do think needs to change is recycling. What happens at then end of the life of a building? He do we deal with all the plastic mixed in with the concrete and wood? E.g. plastic fibres in concrete, or ICF. There's no consideration for end of life logistics in modern building.

Totally agree with this, and i think that goes even further than just the building trade, think electric cars, all those batteries! No consideration is given to end of life for products, its all about making a quick profit and moving on.

 

For me i think a lot will change in the coming years with regards to plastic based chemicals, I was reading this article the other day... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/aug/31/pfas-toxic-forever-chemicals-air-breathing

 

Sounds like the manufacturers witheld information to make the chemicals look fine, when in actual fact they aren't, and now cover alsorts in the modern home.

 

Another thing we fail to understand is how chemicals interact with each other, and this also goes into the wider world, farming etc, the chemicals get tested in isolation, but never together which is how they are used in the real world.

[joe90]

With the knowledge we have regarding the damage plastics is doing I cannot believe we still have plastic bags! Was it not Ireland that banned them and re introduced paper bags? What a sensible move. Yes supermarkets are charging more fir plastic bags and call them bags fir life but I still see loads of them thrown away. This move away from plastic needs to move up a notch, and similar with all things polluting.

[Ferdinand]

I think that biodegradable plastics will make a lot of progress for packaging.

 

Plus house construction will work more heavily on dismantle-ability.

 

[joe90]

1 minute ago, Ferdinand said:

Plus house construction will work more heavily on dismantle-ability.

They have done this with cars, 

[Dudda]

I'm finding it's the commercial sector that's pushing the sustainability and improvement of products for fitout anyway. If you've a large multinational company taking over a floor of an office building they have all these LEED, BREAM and other requirements they want to meet to present this green sustainable image to their staff and customers. They're looking to use low VOC products (trying to avoid that new car smell which are the chemicals coming out of the materials).  Things like carpet tiles, paints, fabrics and foams in furniture, ceiling tiles, etc. Another thing they're looking for is that these are recyclable which is good as offices can get refurbished very often with layouts changing, partitions coming down and going up regularly. Carpet tiles are ripped up, ceiling tiles removed and they can now be recycled. In a domestic situation these products eg floor finishes are usually designed to last a lot longer so the requirement or desire of recycling them at their end of life isn't as great. I think this will change as more recycling options become available and move into the domestic sector.

 

The thing is these companies usually rent the buildings so the push to have these as sustainable or recyclable isn't as great. 

 

Personally I think gas boilers will go but it will take time. I'm working on a third level university who's looking to replace all their current gas boilers with heat pumps. These are industrial scale heat pumps with a district heating system that will take place over the next 15-20 year plan to convert all the buildings. Some of the buildings are 1960's which require extensive thermal upgrading. In time carbon tax will deter gas boilers and force people to use other sustainable models. Gas boilers won't be banned but they'll become uneconomical. 

[Temp]

Some weed killers have come close to being banned.

 

[Iceverge]

Portland cement concrete. Too much CO2. 

 

Steel and concrete and petrochemicals to be displaced by organic materials, timber woodfiber, hemp etc . Buildings have excellent potential as long term carbon stores. 

 

Light polluting and noise polluting electrical devices. Every bloody appliance in our new house insists on beeping once it's finished and some even keep going until you've attended them. I'm looking at you zanussi dryer grrrrrr

 

The quantity of 24/7 LEDs on smoke alarms, washing machines, TVs stereos, dishwashers, ovens, fridges form a mini consultation worthy of a skychart. 

 

Wet trades will gradually diminish as the skill base dries up (pun not intended!). It's generally heavy dirty work and hard on bodies. It's also difficult to dismantle for recycling. 

 

[Faz]

8 hours ago, joe90 said:

With the knowledge we have regarding the damage plastics is doing I cannot believe we still have plastic bags! Was it not Ireland that banned them and re introduced paper bags? What a sensible move. Yes supermarkets are charging more fir plastic bags and call them bags fir life but I still see loads of them thrown away. This move away from plastic needs to move up a notch, and similar with all things polluting.

Plastic bags is one thing - pretty much everything that arrives on my site is swaddled in layers of polythene.

 

I bet my little site of 3 has got through 30 acres+ of plastic sheeting just on shite being delivered.

[joe90]

21 minutes ago, Faz said:

- pretty much everything that arrives on my site is swaddled in layers of polythene.

Yes and when I contacted the council about getting rid of it (I told them I just had loads of furniture etc delivered ?) they told me I could not take it to the recycling centre but could not tell me how to get rid of it.! (Bloke at the site was more accommodating and did it a bit at a time. 

[Faz]

Sounds like an opportunity for 1 last major site fire! It all ends up getting burnt anyway - it just depends on how far it is shipped to find someone to toss the match...

 

Nothing like getting rid of excess pallets mind - cheers me up every time.

[MikeGrahamT21]

21 hours ago, Iceverge said:

Portland cement concrete. Too much CO2. 

 

Steel and concrete and petrochemicals to be displaced by organic materials, timber woodfiber, hemp etc . Buildings have excellent potential as long term carbon stores. 

 

Light polluting and noise polluting electrical devices. Every bloody appliance in our new house insists on beeping once it's finished and some even keep going until you've attended them. I'm looking at you zanussi dryer grrrrrr

 

The quantity of 24/7 LEDs on smoke alarms, washing machines, TVs stereos, dishwashers, ovens, fridges form a mini consultation worthy of a skychart. 

 

Wet trades will gradually diminish as the skill base dries up (pun not intended!). It's generally heavy dirty work and hard on bodies. It's also difficult to dismantle for recycling. 

 

 

Timber could be an issue too if we start using it en-masse and have to grow it really quickly. A forest planted from new takes around 30 years to become carbon neutral, so before it starts actually taking anything out the atmosphere.