Enviromental Workstations

Lilypod® and sustainable design

Lilypod

Environmental Choice Australia

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Good Environmental Choice Accreditation - Click to viewModular furniture systems have long been favoured as an economical solution for modern office accommodation; similarly the cost to the environment is now been given long overdue attention.

Within the creation of the Lilypod® workstation system, the following design principles were adhered to:

  1. High material recyclability
  2. Low material toxicity
  3. Minimal waste
  4. Maximum flexibility
  5. Suitability to the environment

1) High Material Recyclability:

Aluminium - construction:

Aluminium's excellent material properties provide the basis for the intricate, stable Lilypod® structures and framing. These properties ensure that even thin structures do not warp. It also allows a high degree of prefabrication with a variety of materials before components leave the factory, with equal regard this also enables clean and efficient separation for recycling.
           
A large amount of office furniture goes to landfill sites at a cost to both the economy and the environment, others are recycled at a cost to the community, in contrast, aluminium is recycled in a way that pays for itself and is sustainable.

Aluminium has a low melting temperature and therefore able to be recycled with comparatively little energy. The energy required to produce secondary ingot from scrap is only about 5% of that required to produce primary aluminium. About 30% of the world's annual aluminium usage is supplied from processing post-consumer scrap, encouraging its use will increase its reuse. Repeated recycling of aluminium does not affect its quality.

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MDF - worksurface:

All MDF waste product remaining from the production of Lilypod® is disposed of at the Rocky Point Green Power facility located at 124 Mill Road, Woongoolba – Australia. Rocky Point Power Plant sources approved wood residues and other biomass materials to generate electricity and steam to power the sugar mill and distillery, it is one of the largest biomass projects in Australia.
Additional generation capacity is exported to the Queensland Electricity Grid as green power and purchased by customers of Green Power Programs.
The Rocky Point Power Plant is accredited by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) as a green power generator. Electricity generated helps to displace greenhouse gas emissions from non-renewable power generation.
All biomass material complies with the highest environmental standards.

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Echopanel - screen:

An innovative product made from recyclable PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) fibre. A surface in itself offering benefits of acoustics and slimline aesthetic. Use of Echopanel eliminates the need to upholster or use adhesives of any type within Lilypod® panel construction. All Echopanel used within Lilypod® workstations can be recovered and recycled cleanly.

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Steel – mobile pedestal:

Standardisation of a quality proven product has provided our mobile pedestal with definite advantages economically and environmentally.
Processes of repetition vastly aid production costs and planning, the prefabrication of “knockdown” components also assist within reducing the total space required for transport and storage.
Recycling steel also saves considerable energy. Manufacturing steel from recycled material uses only about a quarter of the energy to make steel from raw materials.

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Zinc – brackets, cams & capping:

Today's zinc casting alloys are a strong, durable and cost effective engineering material. Their mechanical properties compete with and often exceed those of cast aluminium, magnesium, bronze, plastics and most cast irons. These characteristics, together with their superior finishing capabilities provide the backbone of support to Lilypod® work surfaces.
The use of cast brackets and cams transform the aluminium extrusion and spread the share of the weight equally. The unique construction method of Lilypod® provides incredible rigidity by discreetly compensating the resultant forces; it also enables clean and efficient separation for recycling/reusing.
Like aluminium and steel, repeated recycling of zinc does not affect its quality.

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