There are three primary materials used in the production of Garden Living kitchens, all of which are low carbon footprint and environmentally friendly.
Extruded Aluminum
Aluminum is recyclable, sustainable, and versatile; three key qualities for any material being used to construct a green building. Historically, aluminum has proven to be one of the most important materials in successful recycling programs. Aluminum offers high scrap value, widespread consumer acceptance, and aluminum recycling enjoys significant industry support. In addition to recyclability, other eco-friendly qualities that aluminum touts while meeting green building requirements include its light weight-to-strength ratio, which allows for the reduction in weight of materials, and its extrudability, which accommodates off-site fabrication.
Garden Living kitchen frames are produced from extruded aluminum, an infinitely recyclable material. For details see the Environmental Product Declaration attached.
Extruded aluminum is also extremely lightweight, reducing transport loadweights, and therefore carbon fuel consumption, significantly. The EAC (extruded aluminum council) participates in LIFT (lightweighting innovations for tomorrow), which conducts funded studies of shipping load weight reductions.
Phenolic Paneling
Phenolic panels have a significantly lower carbon footprint versus traditional panel materials including traditional laminates, fibreboards, and solid wood paneling. Phenolic panels replicate natural wood veneers through sophisticated overprinting processes. Recycled materials are used in the fabrication of the panels. Garden Living uses Trespa brand panels, with a carbon footprint (GWP) of 1.25.
Sintered Stone
100% Natural: Made with natural clay, feldspar, silica and mineral oxides, Sintered stone does not emit toxic gases into the atmosphere when exposed to fire or extremely high temperatures.
100% Recyclable: Due to its natural composition, Neolith can be recycled.Up to 52% of any sintered stone board is comprised of recycled raw materials.
Less raw materials = less erosion: Due to the panel thinness, sintered stone boards are made of less raw materials than other stone product categories, meaning reduced erosion of the soil where the stone input is sourced.
Lower CO2 emissions: A thin board means a lighter slab. With sintered stone, it's possible to transport more than double the surface quantity than it is for thicker products like marble, granite and quartz. The lower weight and thinness of the load means more efficient transport, thereby considerably reducing our CO2 emissions.
Optimized energy consumption: The high resistance of sintered stone to extremely high and low temperatures means it is ideal for ventilated façades. The thermal insulation and ventilation between a sintered stone façade and the very building considerably optimizes the building's energy consumption (up to 40%).
LEED Points Earner: LEED, Leader in Energy and Environmental Design, is a program that provides third-party verification of sustainable buildings. Sintered stone meets the preliminary safety requirements and earns points to help consumers reach the desired level of certification for their homes or business projects.
