From Guest Blogger Izzie: Green Materials for Your Kitchen

You may be approaching the point of oversaturation when it comes to eco-friendly materials. Every company left, right and centre, are coming out with “green” products, to varying degrees of actual environmental credentials.

With so many dubious claims flying around, it can be hard to suss out which product is best for you and the environment you live in. Take the kitchen for example – every appliance, cupboard, and ornament has 1 different eco-friendly alternatives. In this article, we’re going to hopefully help you in your decision making process by getting to the root of everything – the base materials. You won’t find comparison guides for eco-fridges, but utilising these materials is the best course to take for success.

Recycled glass

Glass is both a great material and a detrimental one. You’ve heard the horror stories of glass taking however many thousands of years to biodegrade, and that is an unavoidable problem. But it is also infinitely recyclable. One such product made possible by recycling glass is glass work surfaces.

These wonderful surfaces are each unique in their own way, comprised of several fragments of different coloured glass. Furthermore, they are comprised of 100% recycled glass, so no other material was used in their manufacturing.

Repurposed wood

Note the different word use – “recycled” wood tends to mean wood that has been turned back into pulp before being turned into something else. Repurposed wood simply means taking old or disused pieces of wood, and using a bit of carpentry to make something new.

For example – wooden pallets are often discarded in bulk after use. But the wood is still fine to use, so take them apart, and you could end up with a brand new table! Repurposed wood can be used for big jobs, like dining rooms tables, or little things, like cutlery holders.

Quartz

While it may not have sprung to your mind immediately, there are several factors about quartz that make it a viable eco-friendly product. For one, most quartz work surfaces you can buy are comprised entirely of quartz, so no other material is used up. The process usually involved on slab of quartz being cut into smaller shapes, so you are missing out on all the pollution usually thrown up in a process like making plastic.

Quartz is also very hard wearing, so it stands to last a very long time, perhaps even longer than plastic and wood. So it’s an investment that will stand the test of time, which is always a plus for the environmentally conscious.

Recycled Aluminium

Metals don’t tend to jump to the forefront of our minds when thinking about the environment, but aluminium should be an exception. We use it a lot in drinks cans, but it is fairly easy to reuse and recycle.

It can’t replace big appliances, but recycled aluminium certainly has uses on the smaller scale. If you feel your kitchen is too modern for wooden accessories, try looking for aluminium alternatives. You should easily find aluminium crockery, cutlery holders, and other such small items.