COUNTERTOPS: Meld USA delivers ecoX concrete to homeowners

Working our way across the country to give you in-depth product information related to eco-friendly countertops and products, today we are stopping outside Raleigh, NC where we sit down with Michael Bustin, co-founder and lead material designer of Meld USA.

Meld USA

Since their inception over seven years ago, Meld USA has been manufacturing pre-cast concrete surfaces, furnishings, fixtures and accessories for high impact living, working and entertaining environments. Michael?s background in designer concrete came as a result of a 16 month stint in the industry marketing and selling artistic concrete products on a national level for a West Coast concrete artisan in the late 90s. With Meld USA, he and his brother, Peter Bustin, set out to deliver premium made-to-order modern concrete products and materials to clients across the nation. Since that time their business has grown, and Meld USA has delivered 35% of their products directly to homeowners and 65% to well known commercial clients such as Safeguard, Cosi, Merck Pharmaceutical, Anthropologie, Northwestern Mutual and many more.

The company?s first concrete product formula was known as extremeconcrete®, an award winning modern concrete material. Extremeconcrete was a proprietary mixture of sand, Portland cement, water, fibers and other modern concrete ingredients. Extremeconcrete began selling in 2002, was nationally trademarked in 2004, and is still available today.

In 2004, a family member, urged the two brothers to take their products one step further in an effort to do more for our environment. While the original mix of extremeconcrete was for the most part sustainable in nature, the brothers wanted to take their trademarked concrete material to the next level — formulate a sustainable concrete mixture that was as good for the environment as it was good looking. Additionally they wanted to create a material that required less aggregate to be harvested from the earth, and use less Portland cement whose creation process produces a good deal of carbon dioxide emissions.

ecoX?

Just this past summer Meld USA soft launched ecoX, as an answer to many family and design clients? requests.

The company is calling ecoX an ?eco-sensitive concrete material?. Gone are a high concentration of natural aggregates, sand, and Portland cement. These legacy contents are now replaced with 100% post-consumer and post-industrial recycled glass aggregates, recycled composite materials, and significantly less cement overall. The versatility and integrity of the product is that of traditional concrete Michael tells us, and like traditional concrete the product is great for the indoors or outdoors.

But does ecoX still look like concrete with the use of glass and recycled composite materials? The answer is partially yes, and partially no. The company has taken a unique approach to their manufacturing process whereby they typically use clear and white recycled materials. Therefore when a countertop or product is manufactured, the recycled glass and composite materials takes on the color of the concrete mixture ? maintaining the lure of concrete. Unlike standard concrete, a client will detect the beautiful recycled aggregates in the countertop as the images below show, and at the same time your countertop will acquire a patina like traditional concrete overtime.

An upcoming version of ecoX will utilize a special casting technique to ?hide? the aggregate for clients looking for the traditional concrete look from ecoX. It should be noted that with the creation of ecoX, Meld USA has modified the original composition of extremeconcrete as well. Extremeconcrete now uses less Portland cement due to a 20-25% replacement of Portland cement with post-industrial recycled materials that have cement-like qualities — see images below

Like any cement-based material, Meld USA uses a low VOC penetrating sealer on ecoX countertops and products. Countertops are stain resistant, but like many natural substances they will stain, and they are not acid resistant. Spills should be wiped up as soon as possible with soap and water, and if your surface becomes etched, then a minimum 1000-grit wet pad can be used to lightly sand the etch mark, followed by the application of a small amount of penetrating sealer to the affected area. Again, this process is no different that that recommended by some of the other concrete manufacturers GetWithGreen.com has discussed.

Close to 100% of all Meld USA products are made-to-order: countertops, tiles, furniture, fireplaces, sinks, table tops, etc. To purchase an ecoX countertop, a homeowner/client sends a kitchen, bathroom or office plan (or drawings) to Meld USA for pricing purposes. The client then works with the Meld USA team to lock in a color. The client?s contractor sends templates or dimensions, a design is created by Meld USA, and your contractor confirms. The countertop is then fabricated to spec., manufactured in North Carolina, (6-7 weeks) and then shipped in the company?s innovative Concrete-in-a-Box recycled cardboard technology to your home or place of business. (NOTE: GetWithGreen.com does feel that shipping concrete for a home countertop, while it can be easily done, is not the most eco-friendly thing to do ? thus we have worked hard to share with you various suppliers across the US, so that you might select one that is close to you).

Pricing

Most extremeconcrete/ecoX countertops range from $87-120 + per SF. Standard features include a 1.5 inch thickness, rectilinear shape, choice of 12 colors and a square/eased edge profile. Custom features such as color, texture, design, size, finished openings, etc. are virtually limitless and price accordingly.

Meld USA & Green

Internally at Meld, the company is working hard to incorporate eco-friendly initiatives and social responsibility into their daily workflow. A few of the initiatives pointed out to GetWithGreen.com were:

1. Developing a plan to become a zero waste to almost zero waste manufacturer.
2. Developing a company wide plan to reduce, reuse and recycle.
3. Developing a plan to recycle and reuse gray water.
4. Products are made to order and projects are batched utilizing our proprietary Meld concrete batching program. These measures minimize waste and off-scrap materials when manufacturing products.
5. All products made in America and employees are paid respectable and competitive wages.
6. Developing a pallet reuse program with larger clients.
7. All cardboard used in our Concrete in a Box packaging system is 100% recycled.
8. Purchasing a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine to assist in our custom mold making process, which will optimize material usage and minimize waste.

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