successful failure

One of the recycled materials we wanted to use in tin box was shredded tire. Used tires are a nasty waste product, but in recent years Florida and a few other states approved the use of shredded tires as a replacement for gravel in places like septic drain fields. We wanted to do just that, but after a little research, we found that waste tires are getting snatched up for more lucrative uses: playground mulch and cement plant fuel. This, of course, is disturbing to us at one level - we won't get to use tires, dagnabit! - but deeply satisfying at another - recycling tires has become profitable, with several industries competing to purchase what was once a semi-toxic landfill material.


A failure for us as a family, but a success as a society (or a LEED point sacrificed to a greater social good). In a nutshell, this is the goal for all our sustainable technologies, from recycling to resource conservation to energy production: innovation, breeding cost competitiveness, leading to resource conservation.