ECO: Kitchen

A little butter with your kitchen cabinets? The ingredient lists of a growing number of engineered sheet lumber materials, including medium density fibreboard and oriented strand board, seem to read more like recipes for artisan breads than building products. Materials such as rye and wheat straw, hemp and kenaf stalks are being mixed with formaldehyde-free adhesives, like soy-based resin, and increasingly supplementing wood composites in everything from door cores to cabinetry.

Motivated by green building-rating systems such as LEED, growing consumer demand and, more recently, new air quality standards in California, a growing number of manufacturers are beginning to take advantage of underutilized agricultural residues and working to develop non-toxic adhesives from renewable substances. Just a year or two ago, sustainably harvested, formaldehyde-free sheet products would have been nearly impossible to find. Now consumers have an ever-growing array from which to choose. While chicken feather and cow manure fibreboards could soon be coming to a store near you, there are a few agriculturally-inspired sheet products on the market today:

STRONG ENOUGH FOR A WOLF

Millions of acres of cereal grains are grown each year in the North America. A by-product from the harvesting of these grains is straw -- an estimated 140 million tons. Abundant, renewable and inexpensive, straw is seen by some as a near perfect alternative to wood in the production of fibreboard. Straw is currently disposed of using open-air burning, which contributes to air quality issues, so recovering it for another use not only helps alleviate the problem of disposal, but provides additional revenue for farmers.

Strawboard, which includes wheat, rye and rice boards, is similar to conventional wood particleboard in that it is composed of small fibres glued together to make a larger board. According to Washington State University's Agricultural Sustainability Note Series, straw is durable, a good insulator and resists moisture and rot. They also estimate that "a house made using structural fibreboard panels requires 85 per cent less timber than a conventional wood-frame home."

Local green building supply store GreenWorks carries several strawboard products made by Minnesota-based Environ Biocomposites, including:

- Biostrand Wheat--an alternative to hardwood that is recommended for millwork, furniture and countertop applications.

- Microstrand Wheat--industrial panel products that, according to the company's website, are stronger, yet lighter in weight (10 to 15 per cent less) than traditional wood-based particleboard.

AKA SWEETBOARD

Stalks left over from sugar cane and sorghum processing, known as bagasse, are making their way into fibreboard products as well. Like straw, bagasse has historically been discarded or burned. Sorghum, an important food crop in Africa, Central America and South Asia, is the material behind the distinct look of the popular Kirei (key-ray) Board. Made from reclaimed stalks, poplar wood-bonding layers, and an adhesive that emits no formaldehyde, Kirei Board has been used in a number of decorative and finished products since 1995. As the product is manufactured in China, however, it does have the drawback of long-distance travel costs and associated higher CO2 emissions.

NUTS AND BURLS

Another product by Environ Biocomposites that is carried by GreenWorks is Dakota Burl. Made from another agricultural waste product, sunflower hulls, Dakota Burl is considered an alternative to hardwood and emulates the look of traditional burled woods. According to the company's website, the product can be used naturally or stained with conventional wood stains. It is not, however, recommended for kitchen or bath countertops.

BUT DOES IT TASTE LIKE WOOD

In general, engineered wood products are considered stronger and less prone to humidity-induced warping than equivalent solid woods. While agricultural waste-based products are still new to the market, manufacturers like Environ Biocomposites report that their products are tested using standardized methods for evaluating wood-based panel systems and that their durability exceeds that of wood and wood-composite boards.

According to a study conducted by France's National Centre for Scientific Research, however, not all alternative fibre and glue combinations perform the same. The research, which was conducted to determine comparative properties of fibreboards made from varying proportions of cornstalk, switchgrass and wood fibres bonded with synthetic resins and soy protein, found that 1) wood fibre proved superior to cornstalk and switchgrass fibres; 2) cornstalk fibre performed better than switchgrass fibre; and 3) soy protein was not as strong and durable as synthetic resin.

When it comes to price, many of the sheet materials mentioned here currently cost more than their conventional counterparts. That said, most of them can be installed and finished the same as wood-based products, which means labour estimates are comparable.

OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS

For those people not quite ready to switch to grass and seeds, there are a growing number of more sustainable wood alternatives to choose from, as well. Consumers should look for 100-per-cent FSC-certified and 100-per-cent, post-industrial recycled-content particleboard that use low-emitting or formaldehyde-free binders.

RESOURCES

The GVRD's recently revamped BuildSmart Product Service Directory is a good way to identify and locate sustainably harvested and low-emitting sheet products (www.metrovancouver.org/buildsmart).

The Canada-wide directory Tint of Green (www.tintofgreen.ca) recently added a "Home Structure" section, which might help consumers find potential retailers of sheet products in their area.

(prepared by Kim Davis/Vancouver Sun)


WATCHING YOUR CARBS

On Jan. 1, 2009, the California Air Resources Board is scheduled to begin enforcing its formaldehyde-reduction standards for composite wood products. While only enforceable in California, the standards will be far-reaching, as all products imported into California will also have to comply. By 2012, and phase two of the regulations, panels made using urea formaldehyde resins -- the least expensive, highest-emitting, and most common binder used -- will have a hard time meeting the outlined limits. As a result, these glues will likely be replaced with ones made with phenol-formaldehyde, or phenolic resins, which take longer to cure and are more expensive, but do not generate gas. Manufacturers may also increasingly turn to even costlier resins such polyvinyl acetate (white glue) and soy-based resins that avoid formaldehyde entirely.