Kitchen & Bath Sustainable

Vetrazzo

Reduce, reuse, recycle, receive an award.

Last week Vetrazzo was awarded the California Resource Recovery Association’s “Outstanding Closing the Loop Commitment” award at the group’s 32nd annual conference. The award goes to businesses, government agencies or organizations which have successfully implemented an innovative program or created a product that reduces waste or has a high recycled content.

Vetrazzo, based in the San Francisco Bay area, produces surfaces made of glass recycled from curbside recycling programs, waste from glass manufacturers and building demolitions. “A single panel of Vetrazzo can use up to 1,000 bottles,” says James Sheppard, president of Vetrazzo.

According to the company, it expects to recycle 1,600 tons of waste glass into its surfaces in 2008.

Surfaces made with recycled materials are gaining more traction in the marketplace; Washington-based Lumicor uses recycled resins for its R4 series of surfaces, and Brooklyn, NY-based IceStone is gaining popularity; there’s a backorder just to get samples of its recycled glass-and-concrete surfaces.

Are there particular recycled surfaces you’re fond of? New things in the marketplace that have caught your eye? Let me know what’s great and green in the comments!

For arguably the first time, environmentalism is carrying some serious cache. Granted, some of it is misguided, but having trend-setters in on the movement appears to be spreading the word. Organic cotton tee shirts in Wal-mart, the New York Times calling solar the “holy grail of renewable energy,” and the greening of every kitchen and bath product imaginable are all opening the movement to its widest audience ever.

Say what you will about green consumerism, but the trend-setters know how to trick out a showhouse. To wit: the fifth annual Idea House, a showhouse presented by Hamptons Cottages and Gardens magazine. Located in a circa-1860s farmhouse (called “Sunset Hill”–it’s so fancy it’s got a name), the developers expanded the layout of the home to 6,300 square feet with a modern addition by Peter Sabbeth, who is the principal of ModernGreenHome, which bills itself as “Design oriented development with a conscience.”

Twenty-three designers decked the house out in the latest, greatest and greenest, include names like Jamie Drake. Custom furniture is made of woods reclaimed from other parts of the house during renovation. Among all the fancy green goodness is the kitchen, which features a wall of original cedar shingles which was once a preextension exterior wall. The kitchen’s clean, modern countertop is made of recycled concrete and glass by IceStone of Brooklyn, NY.

Admission is $30.

What: Fifth Annual Idea House presented by Hamptons Cottages and Gardens

Where: 151 Sagg Main Street, Sagaponack, NY

When: Now open for viewing, Thursday-Sunday until August 24

For some slides of the showhouse and a brief article, check it out on The New York Times Web site, here.