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What Makes it a GreenScape?
This section contains the following:
Product Categories
Biobased Products
These products arecomposed of biological, agricultural (plant, animal,
or marine), or forestry materials that are renewable. Often less harmful
to the environment, many products such as compost, fertilizers, cleaners,
and solvents, can be found made from biobased materials.
Environmentally Preferable Products
Through the federal-wide Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) program,
Executive agencies are encouraged and assisted in the purchasing of environmentally
preferable products and services "that have a lesser or reduced effect
on human health and the environment when compared with competing products
or services that serve the same purpose." Look on EPA's
EPP Guidance Web page for case studies, guides, labeling, and other
related documents for buying your own green products. Also, check out
the EPP database
of environmental products.
Examples of Large-Scale Landscaping
Brownfields
This term refers to property on which expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may
be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.
Brownfields undergoing remediation often benefit from compost use, and such
projects are a great opportunity to incorporate recycled products. Investigate
EPA's Brownfields Web site for
information on this topic.
Golf Courses
Due to the large amounts of fertilizer, pesticide, and water needed
by most golf courses, these resorts are a great place to begin GreenScaping
activities. Biobased products and compost can safely replace pesticides
and fertilizers, while Xeriscaping techniques reduce water use.
For example, the North
Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois, used compost as a
soil amendment to reduce sodium levels at its course. Read about
EPA Wetlands Division's attempt to find common ground between the
golf industry and the environmental community through Environmental
Principles for Golf Courses.
Green Rooftops
What cooler way to reduce heat, prevent runoff, and help the environment
than planting a garden on the roof of your buildings? Creating a green
roof provides many opportunities to employ GreenScapes philosophies, ranging
from choosing plastic recycled-content containers to soaker hoses made
from used tires.
Retail and Commercial Uses
Shopping malls, amusement parks, and other industries associated with
large-scale uses of land, have the most room to incorporate GreenScapes'
philosophies. For example, the vast vineyards in Northern
California's wine country are using compost from food wastes to enhance
soils.
Military Installations
Military bases can purchase biodiesel and biobased lubricants for equipment,
which are better for the environment and allow for the storage of less
hazardous materials, reducing management costs and possibly insurance
costs. They can also turn their yard and landscaping waste into rich compost
and mulch, to eventually be reapplied to the land.
Parks and Recreation Areas
These areas are great places to incorporate benches, tables, and structures
made from recycled plastic lumber. Bike paths and walking trails can be
made from rubberized asphalt, and ground-up rubber under playground equipment
is safer than traditional mulch. Take a look at how some Midwestern
and California
parks have incorporated plastic lumber and rubberized asphalt into their
landscapes.
New polymers of plastic make this recycled material strong and durable enough for even railroad ties! Biodiesel and biobased lubricants for railroad equipment reduce site management costs due to their less hazardous nature, and can even lower associated storage insurance costs.
Residential and Commercial Building Construction
There are patio blocks on the market containing 90 to 100 percent recovered
plastic or postconsumer rubber that can be used to create decorative garden
walkways and trails. Buy hoses, tubing, trickle irrigation systems, and
lawn edging made from recovered plastic and old tires.
Roadside Landscaping
Many trials have shown that vegetation-less roadside areas, abandoned
for years as uninhabitable, quickly flourished under applications
of compost. The Texas
Department of Transportation applied compost to highway roadsides
to prevent erosion and promote regrowth of vegetation. Blankets
and berms made of compost minimize or eliminate soil erosion, runoff,
and non-point source pollution. Read how Filtrexx
International has developed compost products to help control
runoff and erosion.
