Materials

The nine new colors in the line (group on top) include Spanish Moss, Crater, Coastal Green, Silver Comet, Cosmic Penny, Summer, Amber Glass, Tuscan Gold, and Martian Sunset. The colors of the Recycled Products line (above right) now include Crater and Coastal Green (shown above left).

New solid-surfacing additions include SCS-certified recycled products
Avonite Surfaces has introduced nine new solid-surfacing products, including two new Recycled Products, which complete a line of eight SCS-certified products offering a minimum of 40 percent preconsumer recycled waste content. The two new Recycled Products include Crater, a basic black with an array of large accents of yellow, gray, red, and brown; and Summer, a cedar green with flecks of black, gray, and clear hues.

Avonite first introduced recycled solid surfacing in 1996 with Kaleidoscope, which contained a minimum of 40 percent recycled content. Avonite’s marketing manager, Wayne Rutledge, says the company decided to obtain third-party certification from SCS in 2005 in response to the “overactive green marketing buzz” in the past few years.

The surfacing’s preconsumer recycled content comes from trim scrap and imperfect sheets from Avonite’s production facilities that would otherwise be sent to a landfill. Although there is no collection system in place to retrieve old installations, all of the products in the line are able to be recycled back into new sheets. According to Rutledge, the company’s Custom Sheet Size Program is an integral part of its approach to sustainable design. “Our wide-sheet and custom-size program provides the smart designer and contractor with a way to cut costs, reduce waste, and save time in large commercial applications,” he says. Such applications include hotel vanities, tub surrounds or wall cladding for military or student housing, shower stalls, and hospital rooms. Avonite Surfaces, Florence, Ky. www.avonitesurfaces.com

[Reader Service: November 2007 #208]

Embedded inclusions
Showcased at this year’s Globalshop and Hospitality Design trade shows, Lunalite surfacing exhibits a range of effects, from rustic textures to metallic shimmer. Available from Architectural Systems, Lunalite can be applied to doors, windows, dividers, walls, countertops, and displays. It comprises natural, holographic, and recycled inclusions such as mica, gold flake, and sisal fibers, which are embedded in a range of materials, including glass and acrylic. Architectural Systems, New York City. www.archsystems.com

[Reader Service: November 2007 #209]