Beautiful new floor made from old pallets A...

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Your daily source of inspiration for creative reuse and mindful consumption.

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Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money.

Unconsumption is a word used to describe everything that happens after an act of acquisition.

Unconsumption is an invisible badge.

Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.

Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist, Goodwill, or Salvation Army) to find a new home for the functioning DVD player you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.

Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.

Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room.

Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.

Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective.

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CONTRIBUTORS:

Founder & Editor: Rob Walker, journalist, Savannah, GA

Editorial & Community Manager: Molly Block, marketing and business development geek, Houston, TX

Brian W. Jones, designer & writer, Göteborg, Sweden

Kashvi Kumar, Environmental Studies and Economics major at New York University

Deirdre Nelson, ever threading artist, Glasgow, Scotland

Shanna Trenholm, writer. catalyst. force of nature. San Diego, CA

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Further information about Unconsumption can be found here.

2:27 pm - Sun, Nov 13, 2011: 82 notes

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Beautiful new floor made from old pallets

A couple days after writing about Arctic Plank floors [Unconsumption’s post about it is here] made with reclaimed shipping pallets, Oregon-based Viridian Wood Products announced two new flooring products made from shipping pallets and crates. The two lines are FSC-certified, 100% reclaimed, and available with or without a low-VOC polyurethane finish.
Viridian Wood Products may contribute towards LEED credits in a number of categories, including for materials reuse, recycled content, regional materials, and certified wood.
(via Jetson Green)

Special note: In the Jetson Green post’s comments, a reader addresses the subject of safety of pallet wood reuse, noting that some wood’s been treated with chemicals to help kill or repel insects and/or bacteria. Viridian’s owner responds, saying the company uses heat-treated (not chemically treated) wood and has had no problems with it.

Related: On the Unconsumption Facebook page, we’ve discussed the idea of using heat-treated pallets instead of chemically treated products. And, over on TreeHugger, Lloyd Alter has also brought up the subject. (See his recent post titled Are pallets unpalletable building material?)

For other pallet repurposing ideas/projects — furniture, palletecture, and more — see the Unconsumption archives here.