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Zinc and sustainable development
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Zinc takes 'Grand designs' honours for sustainability
Zinc is essential to aspects of life for all organisms, from foetal, brain and immune function development to protection of the skin. Like all naturally occurring elements, it is found in varying concentrations in flora, fauna, rocks, minerals, water and air.
Its use extends to several industries, one of which is construction.
Whether used for new build, refurbishment or to extend, rolled zinc is now widely used for its style and durability to blend effectively with a variety of building materials. Because of its natural ageing process and malleability, it can be used to form complex shapes, blending with varying vernacular styles and the surrounding natural landscape.
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In the context of sustainable development, VMZINC products offer a combination of exceptional design scope and minimal environmental impact:
- Rolled zinc is 100% recyclable. In Western Europe more than 90 % (around 100,000 tonnes) of old rolled zinc is effectively recovered and reused in different applications each year, saving 1-2 million tonnes of ore extraction.*
- Compared with other metals, very little energy is needed to manufacture zinc metal from ore - less than half the energy consumption of copper and stainless steel and less than a quarter of that used for aluminium. CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions are, therefore, proportionally less.
- Zinc’s typical lifespan can exceed 100 years, which is exceptional for a roofing material. This is due to its self-protecting patina developed as a consequence of exposure to oxygen, carbon dioxide and water in the air. As an example, the VM ZINC roof at Brighton’s recently redeveloped railway station which was over a century old was removed, recycled and new material supplied.
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Systems such as VMZINC PLUS® for warm roofs optimize insulation effectiveness. They have been used in award winning designs such as ‘The Focus House’, winner of ‘Grand Designs’ 2007 award for ‘Best Eco Home’, and the Osborne Homes ‘Demonstration House’, built at the BRE to demonstrate the best in affordable, sustainable building and energy efficiency.
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VMZINC products come from environmentally friendly production plants which have conformed to ISO 14001 since 2004/5. Within the constraints of this stringent, international environmental standard, manufacturing processes are strictly controlled to ensure that zinc emissions into the air and water are significantly below the national regulation threshold (set at 0.5 mg/m3/day for the air and 2 mg/L/day for the water).
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Do you know it?
Zinc’s emission into the environment takes place organically without adverse toxicological effect, and the proportion attributable to human activity constitutes less than 3% overall. Today, zinc concentrations in European ecosystems are within the range of conditions for optimal life. Analysis, for example, of water from the Rhine, a river known to flow through particularly dense urban and industrial areas, has shown levels of zinc to be between 3 and 25 ųg/L compared to the established threshold of 50 μg/L. |
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