Being green, eco-friendly and our carbon footprint are terms we are becoming all too familiar with in our everyday lives. Such matters are even becoming a discussion in parliament and a part of our taxes. So how does this environmental consciousness affect our industry and how do we change to meet the need of the industry?
The foundation of green building begins with the design stages, as with any project. However in designing environmentally optimal buildings, the objective is to minimise the total environmental impact. This consists of a number of principles that may be effective individually or together to produce a greater cumulative effect.
There is no doubt that the practices and technologies employed in green building are evolving as the demand for such ever increases. Although at times the greatest overall effect comes down to doing the basics. Here are a few that you can implement on your next jobsite.
Water efficiency – plan to reduce water consumption whenever and wherever possible. Plasterers’ main usage of water is during the cleaning of plastering tools. This process is normally undertaken with a running hose. Why not try using a wash station to clean your tools?
Wash stations are a portable, labour saving, environmentally friendly accessory to have on site. Plastering specific wash stations are designed to clean drywall tools, reclaim drywall mud and re-use wash water. These wash stations are particularly useful for plasterers working on larger commercial projects.
Waste Reduction – Do you recycle your used plasterboard? Furthermore, did you know that plasterboard is 100% recyclable into re-usable products such as gypsum and paper? Each year in Australia over 1 million tonnes of plasterboard is manufactured. A similar portion of this ends up in land fill along with other construction and demolition waste.
There are a number of options available for plasterers to recycle their used plasterboard. You can choose to deliver the waste yourself at a local recycling plant or alternatively it can be picked up at your work site via skip bins, waste bags or throw it straight into the truck.
Commenting is closed for this article.