Our sister company Szolyd Concrete Inc. is working with a new type of concrete that we think is going to replace a substantial amount of EPS foam. They looked internally at their own practices and realized how much waste this material was creating. There needed to be a better way to do things…..
When many people think of prominent foam products, they think of coffee cups and packaging materials. What they don’t know is how widespread and wasteful the construction industry is. EPS foam is used in massive quantities with virtual no regard for the environmental havoc it is causing. In most cases it is a one time use product that gets thrown out. Here are some of the worst offenders.
Over time the foam breaks up and gets chipped away into fragments by water action, particularly heavy waves and storms, by sunlight, and by animals chewing it. The fragments range from microscopic to large chunks, which release harmful chemicals into the water, litter shorelines, and break down further into microplastics. Polystyrene foam is a plastic and as such, never really goes away. It poses a threat to aquatic wildlife that could ingest it. These tiny particles accumulate in the food chain and can affect the animals and aquatic life that ingest them, impacting their survival, growth, swimming behaviour, feeding and reproduction.
Aircrete can be used to create buildings that are fire resistant. With global warming and disasters such as the town of Lytton BC, there is a need to create products and buildings that can withstand climate change.
Flooding is one of the top natural disasters that cause property damage across the country. Despite this danger, many people build homes and businesses in floodplains and other areas prone to flooding. Whether your new construction site is built in a floodplain or you have existing buildings prone to flooding, using flood-resilient construction materials can help reduce the impact of direct and prolonged contact with destructive water as well as avoid significant damage.
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is a closed cell, durable foam that’s been successfully used as geosynthetic material & below grade insulation for many decades. EPS Geofoam is about 100 times lighter than soils and reacts to applied loads very differently, greatly reducing gravity loads and lateral loads on retaining walls. Fast to install even in the rain, Geofoam EPS-blocks arrive at the jobsite ready to place, cut to size per approved drawings. If additional fitting at the site is required, it’s easy with portable hot wire cutters.
