And the savings add up for everyone who shares the environment. In the Puget Sound area, soda bottles are spun into carpet, computer casings are recast into fireproof shingles, milk jugs are remolded into playground structures, and stained-glass chips are someone's driveway. The Washington State Department of Transportation amended its specifications to allow 15 percent recycled glass cullett as part of the aggregate mix. At least 30 vendors in the Puget Sound region are manufacturing or selling new forms of recycled products. As a fledgling industry, recycled products are in a period of great ferment and creativity.
Public sponsorship helps.
Joyce Gagnon, program manager at King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials, works specifically with the design and construction industry to introduce and support the use of recycled products. She cites the transformations recycled paper has undergone as an example of how quickly the changes are occurring. Jeffry S. Wilson's drawing illustrates the facade of a home which was on display at commission's garden at the 1996 Home and Garden Show. It was only five years ago that recycled paper hit the market. Complaints were numerous.