Environmental and Social Credentials

Here at StoneSet we are committed to operating in socially, ethically and environmentally responsible ways. Below are some of the organisations we support and initiatives we’ve undertaken.

 

Urban Greening a ‘Hot topic’

Architects may not be aware that almost every state in Australia is scrambling to regenerate a declining urban canopy by implementing their respective forms of tree-planting incentives for local government. In NSW it is the ‘5 Million trees’ by 2030 initiative, in WA its the ‘Tree canopy grant program’ and in VIC its the Melbourne ‘Urban Forestry grants/strategy’.

 

Hot days ahead

It’s with good reason too – there’s been a barrage of concerning and embarrassing media reports over the last year leaving Australians all quite literally, red-faced;

• Studies from the BOM that 2019 was Australia’s hottest year and 2020 was Australia’s 4th hottest on record.
• Sydney school children being exposed to play yard pavement temperatures as high as 60 degrees
• Poor development regulation in Adelaide resulting in an alarming loss of trees and inadequate public appreciation for their benefits.
• Melbourne’s western frontier of greenfield development seeing housing footprints max out blocks which leave no room for trees, with young families set to move into severe Mediterranean heat islands.

 

The Problem is complex, but not impossible

Rapid urban development and global carbon emissions are undoubtedly key contributors to these global warming effects. StoneSet respect the complex nature of these urban greening problems facing the construction industry and government urban planning and development strategy.

We are fortunate to be installers of a legitimately ‘green and ’innovative product solution for such complex environmental problems. StoneSet’s porous paving uses polyurethane (rather than cement) to bind aggregate which represents the latest evolution in paving. 

StoneSet is unique in its hard-surfacing paving category a safe, durable, naturally decorative stone and a completely porous surface, that allows more water to penetrate down to urban tree roots and facilitate growth of larger, healthier canopies which can cut in half the number of 40 degree days people effectively experience over summery.

 

Bound raw agg. = ‘low’ embodied energy

StoneSets raw stone structure is not only more effectively free draining than other porous pavements, but its low-energy and low-water (dry dust screening) quarry process puts it at polar environmental opposites to common paving alternatives – cement or clay fired pavers.

High carbon emissions from concrete production is a combination of ‘simply no alternative way to produce calcium oxide from limestone’ and the fact ‘concrete is the most popular material in the world and cement is the primary binder used in concrete’. This is why cement production alone contributes a staggering 8 percent of global carbon emissions annually.

High carbon emissions from concrete production is a combination of ‘simply no alternative way to produce calcium oxide from limestone’ and the fact ‘concrete is the most popular material in the world and cement is the primary binder used in concrete’. This is why cement production alone contributes a staggering 8 percent of global carbon emissions annually.

Thankfully your decision to resurface with StoneSet means you use Australian-quarried quartz and granites. These Feldspar minerals make up a massive 50% of the Earth’s crust. That means sustainable resource extraction by companies governed to deliver safe working conditions and sustainable wages.

Further to all this, in over 13 years StoneSet has been installing across Australia, we are proud to have resurfaced and repurposed a staggering 52,000sqm of existing concrete or hard surface paving!

If you take the depth of all this existing concrete at an average 100mm thick concrete slab, StoneSet has prevented the removal of over 5000 cubic meters of concrete.

Given 1 cubic meter of concrete = 2.5 Tonne, and that StoneSet has effectively prevented an additional 5 thousand cubic meters of concrete being produced to replace the old, StoneSet has enabled Australia to avoid an incredible 25,000 tonnes of heavily carbon emitting concrete being either produced or sent to landfill/recycling.

 

And within that ‘relatively minimal’ 16mm StoneSet topping, 25% of that 832 cubic meter volume was water porous voids, meaning only 70% or 582 cubic meters of quarried stone.

In short 1,500 tonne of ubiquitous feldspar has prevented a combined destruction and creation of some 25,000 tonnes of environmentally unfriendly concrete!

Responsible Quarrying

All StoneSet stone is Australian sourced, “decorative aggregate” from crusher quarrying in Australia. Essentially coloured, commonly available granites and quartz  is mined and crushed to produce the smaller aggregate. StoneSet stone is dry screened (filtered) into smaller 6mm sizes. Importantly, dry screening means there is little / no water used to remove the dust from the stone. The small amount of river stone type pebble (rounded by decades of erosion) available through StoneSet has been sourced from 3 regulated, Australian suppliers, meaning;

• Fair worker wages and conditions
• Regulated, Sustainable mining approaches
• Far less energy in freighting stone (from overseas)
• Significantly less water used than Cement / Pavers

WIRES Animal Rescue

We are proud supporters of WIRES – NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc. Which is Australia’s largest wildlife rescue organisation.

We support wires both financially and with directors being active Volunteers – including Director Andy on Field assignment early 2020 to assist the Northern Hairy Nose Wombat

mission Australia Landscaping

In 2019, StoneSet contributed the supply and install of porous paving for the “Wellness Garden” at the Mission Australia offices at Mount Druitt. See the full video of the project below.

Offsetting 27 Tonnes of co2

Since July 2017, StoneSet has been an annual “Green Partner” of the carbon offsetting organisation “Carbon Neutral“. Collectively, 22 million trees have been planted over the last 15 years and Australian Association of United Nations credits them with “a clear vision for biodiverse revegetation at a large scale as they seek to create a 10,000 sq km habitat corridor”

Community initiatives

In 2014, StoneSet supplied paving for the Sustainable water usage feature at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden show.

Probono Projects – Wires

We work with WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc). On pro-bono labour capacity for small projects, which assist in their mission in dedicating most of their donations directly to the care of animals.