Green Driveways: The Next Big Landscaping Trend
With the start of the nicer weather, our focus is turning to our backyards, front gardens, and landscaping.
A booming new trend that property owners are exploring is green driveways.
Whether your existing driveway is in poor shape and needs to be redone, you need extra parking (either for an additional vehicle or for a recreational vehicle), or your driveway is “unfinished” and needs to be surfaced before next winter to help with snow clearing, green driveways are a great fit for many Ontario homeowners.
Not only are they practical, but green driveways are also a way to embrace the movement towards including green building products and sustainable alternatives into homes, buildings and facilities.
LID Paving Offers Truly Sustainable Products to Help Build Your Green Driveway
If you are interested in a truly “green” driveway, the E series grids are perfect for you.
The “E” permeable grids can be filled with grass or a low-growth sedum product for an effect resembling a “reinforced lawn,” rather than a traditional asphalt or stone driveway. The grass-filled grid is perfect for driveway extensions, parking pads, overflow parking, walking pathways and even fire/emergency access lanes.
The E series, available in E30, E40 and E50 models, is a 100% recycled product that is truly “green.” The grids can support loads in excess of 800 t/m2, are guaranteed for 20 years, and are specifically engineered in Germany for cold weather climates. If your land needs change in that timeframe, the grids can be removed and either reused or recycled.
Because the E series permeable paver grids are fully recyclable and reusable, filling them with gravel is another sustainable option. Depending on the project, a gravel-filled grid is roughly the same cost as the grass-filled grid, but it is easier to maintain. In order for the grass-filled grid to thrive, the area has to be maintained the way you would maintain a lawn.
What Other Paving Options are There for a Green Driveway?
“Green driveway” products, which are sustainable and permeable, also include different options such as Ecoraster Bloxx and pour-in-place permeable products, offered by companies such as Premier Custom Surfacing and PurePave.
The Ecoraster Bloxx product is a system consisting of a recycled plastic matrix and paving stone, available in either concrete or recycled rubber, which slip into the cells of the matrix. The Bloxx is sustainable, permeable and weather-proof. It is easy to install and easy to maintain.
The pour-in-place paving surfaces offered by our “permeable partners,” Premier Custom Surfacing and PurePave, are more in keeping with the look of conventional solid surfaces, but are also fully permeable, durable, and excellent choices for your green driveway and other projects.
Whether you choose a “grass-green” paving surface or other options, green paving is something considered to be permeable, sustainable and eco-friendly. Winter resiliency is a key factor when choosing a product for a cold weather climate, and rest assured that all of the products offered by LID Paving have been third-party vetted and will help you greatly reduce your winter salt usage while providing a universally accessible, AODA/ADA-compliant surface that can support heavy vehicular loads under extremely cold temperatures.