The Contina line by Hape International is said to be the first range of 100% bamboo toys. They are colored with natural, water-based paints. The full range is available from Hape through Amazon. Found via: Eco Child’s Play

Cardboard can be incorporated in modern design pieces — check out this impressive gallery of cardboard furniture. Bloxes (shown above) are the latest option in cardboard furniture. The corrugated cardboard puzzle pieces lock together to form sturdy shapes such as chairs, walls, and play forts.

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Cocona is a natural fabric enhancer that is made with activated carbon. The activated carbon is derived from coconut husks — it is a “waste” product of the water filter industry. But what does Cocona do exactly? It is said to help traditional fabrics resist moisture, control odor and shield ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Activated carbon has a huge absorbing area — one gram of it has a surface area the size of two tennis court. Some 40 outdoor clothing manufacturers, including GoLite, Marmot, Sierra Designs and Royal Robbins, are incorporating Cocona into their 2007 product lines. (more…)

I’ve come to the conclusion that natural latex is the optimal mattress-making material. I’ve tried all kinds of mattresses: goose down, wool, foam, cotton futons and box spring mattresses. But I have to say that my first few nights sleeping on a latex mattress were the most comfortable I ever experienced.

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Some cotton is naturally colored — it grows that way and does not need to be dyed. “Color grown” cotton has its roots in the ancient Americas. Weavers cultivated native white, tan, green, yellow, red, and brown colored cottons for thousands of years. However, the fiber qualities of the cotton was not suited to modern textile machines. Thus, today, most people only associate cotton with the color white.

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Conventional paint strippers are usually very toxic substances that you’d be better off not bringing into your home. But one company, Green Products, has created a bio-based paint stripper and solvent called aMAIZEing.

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Some interesting elements of nature are incorporated into this new line of “ecoresins” from 3Form.

Called Full Circle, the designers utilize renewable materials collected from artisans in diverse communities such as Inodnesia and Africa.

I’d be great if they could make Ecoresins more eco-effective — its currenly a polyester resin which incoporates a 40% post-industrial recycled content. Perhaps 100% recycled content could be used, or even a biodegradable resin?

We mentioned previously that using porous pavers is an effective alternative to paving with concrete. They make patios and driveways less erosion-prone and they do not get as hot as hard-surfaced pavement.

Now a company called Biopaver is trying to take things a step further by introducing a new type of paver designed to catch storm water run-off but also to reduce the impact of petroleum-based pollution (from oil and gasoline spills for example - quite a widespread problem).

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Not many print houses put much thought into making their production processes more efficient or non-toxic.

Ecoprint, based in the Washington DC area, is different. They have developed their own “eco-inks”. These inks are specially formulated to be free from toxic metals like copper and barium. The Ecoprint shop also runs on 100% wind power, and uses 100% recycled or tree-free paper.

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EPatch is an innovative sticker that doesn’t use glue or water. The stickers are non-toxic, very durable, and are able to be bent, stretched or folded without losing their shape.

Made of rubber-silicon, the stickers are fade resistant, resistant to UV radiation and to temperature extremes up to 220 degrees - which means it is useful for industrial purposes. Epatch is already being used for parking permits. The Australian inventor, James Shen, is hoping to expand into the pharmaceutical and hospitality market.

“We’re hoping to do away with those little triangular cardboard signs in hotel bathrooms that ask you to save water,” says James. “They get so wet they need to be replaced regularly. Printing a water saving message onto the Epatch, it can then be used and reused as it sticks to any surface, doesn’t leave a sticky residue behind and can be peeled on and off easily.”

Home Page: Epatch

SilenceAir looks like a transparent brick, and uses “passive resonators” to allow fresh air into buildings while leaving 85% of the noise behind.

“Cities are noisy. When we block the noise from our offices and homes, we usually reduce the ventilation…the result is sick buildings and people,” says the inventor Chris Field.

Chris developed the concept during his doctoral research at the University of Sydney, Australia.

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Geämi is a new biodegradable and very effective packing material. The name means “earth (ge) friend (ami)” in Latin and Greek.

The Geämi system expands kraft paper into a honeycomb with thousands of little hexagonal cells. The result is a lightweight, extremely protective material that reduces overall packing size. Geämi packaging is also easily recyclable and is biodegradable.

Crate & Barrel is currently switching over to Geämi for their wrapping material needs. No more bubblewrap or polystyrene peanuts!

Website: Geämi

Porous pavers are permeable replacements for concrete or other hard surfaces.

They reduce rain water runoff by 90% thus avoiding erosion. Less pollution reaches the waterways because the rain water penetrates the underlying ground more effectively.

Permeable pavement is slightly different — it looks like concrete but is structured to be porous so that rain water seeps through it. See this previous pavement site for more information.

More about Porous Pavers.

Transmaterial, a book edited by Blaine Brownell, covers “materials, products and processes that are redefining our physical environment.” The book is filled with surveys of metaeffective materials. The chapters include: ultraperforming materials, multidimensional, recombinant and transformational materials. The entire book is available as a PDF File (11MB).

See this review from World Changing for more information.

Eucalyptus is a very inexpensive hardwood and is comparable to teak or cherry in its strength and durability. Eucalyptus, however, grows quickly and can be sustainably harvested on plantations.

Its density, straight grain, smooth finish, and honey color make it an excellent choice for flooring and outdoor furniture.

Creative Woodwork International makes folding, transforming, outdoor furniture, such as the bench above, using plantation eucalyptus.

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EcoResin™ by 3form is a specially formulated polyester resin which incoporates a 40% post-industrial recycled content (it meets the threshold for LEED credit).

The resins allow natural elements, textures and colors to be embedded in the translucent material, creating a striking effect. The interlayers can be arranged into thousands of combinations. Customization is encouraged by the manufacturer.

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Plastics are not very meta-efficient. They are toxic to all forms of life, they don’t biodegrade. Practically all the plastic that’s even been made still exists - either in landfills or in places like the ocean. There are other materials that can often substitute for plastic such as ceramics or rubber. Bioplastic is also become a viable option.

In terms of toxicity and environmental damage, plastics can be arranged in a pyramid, starting from the worst at the top:

1. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other halogenated plastics
2. Polyurethane (PU), Polystyrene (PS), Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), Polycarbonate (PC)
3. Polyethylene-terephthalate (PET)
4. Polyolefins (PE,PP, etc.)
5. Biobased Polymers (Bioplastics)

PVC plastic (vinyl) is the worst plastic for our health and for the environment because it is produced using chlorine, and it releases dioxins throughout its lifetime. Dioxin is one of the most toxic chemical ever produced. The EPA suggests that there is no safe level of dioxin exposure.

Also, because PVC is a hard and unusable material, chemicals must be added during manufacture — such as
phthalates (pronounced “thay-lates”). Unfortunately these chemicals leak out of the plastic easily. When children suck or chew PVC toys, they can end up ingesting these chemicals.

Here is a 2003 PVC Report Card on Kid’s Toys Manufacturers. Find out which toys are still produced with PVC. Disney products are some of the most hazardous out there. Here is a more extensive list in a PDF file.

Here is a guide to PVC alternatives.

Polycarbonate (#7 plastic) can also be quite toxic. It can release bisphenol A, a suspected hormone disruptor, into liquids and foods. In 1998, the Japanese government ordered manufacturers there to recall and destroy polycarbonate tableware meant for use by children because it contained excessive amounts of bisphenol A.

Polystyrene (#6 plastic) may leach styrene into food it comes into contact with. A recent study in Environmental Health Perspectives concluded that some styrene compounds leaching from food containers are estrogenic (meaning they can disrupt normal hormonal functioning). Styrene is also considered a possible human carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Baltix makes office furniture out of materials
such as sunflower hulls, wheat
strands and recycled newspaper.
Based in Minnesota, Baltix is positioned close to the source of the agricultural
fiber they use, reducing energy used in transportation.

The partition
pictured above is built with sunflower board paneling. The hulls
were previously burned as waste.

Baltix uses urethane for bonding the materials together, a chemical that contains
no VOCs or formaldehyde.

Designer: Tom Heerman
Website: Baltix.Com

This chair, designed by Josh Levy, and inspired by the earlier works of Frank
Gehry, is constructed with recycled corrugated
fiberboard. The surface is soft
and brushed to feel like suede. Corrugated fiberboard consists of
linerboard (the flat exterior) and flute (arched
and sandwiched in between). When the two are adhered together,
they resist bending from all directions.

Designer: Josh Levy
Website: Vivavi
Price: $345