From the GREENDEPOT website: "Founded in 2005 by Sarah Beatty, Green Depot's mission has been - from the outset - to make green building products and services readily accessible so that green building can be easily adopted into standard construction operations. Our goal has been to help establish sustainable building as cost competitive, and provide products of the highest quality that are certified green." What this doesn't tell you is that GREENDEPOT is now affiliated with Marjam Supply Co. Marjam is a conventional building materials supplier in the Northeast. I don't know when Marjam adopted Sarah Beatty's brainchild, but the merger doesn't seem to be hindering the GREENDEPOT's mission.
I've watched GREENDEPOT grow over the last two years to become a formidable supplier in the green building industry. The company is so confident in it's own ability to provide authentically green products and is so concerned about it's own "green credibility" that it has created it's own Green Filter, a system of evaluating and labeling products with an easily identifiable icon system for Air Quality, Conservation, Local, Energy, and Responsibility.
The GREENDEPOT employees I've worked with at the my local store have been knowledgeable and helpful. The store is a great source of information. Among other things, I've learned about the silica content in a cement composite siding I had considered using. The siding discussion with the salesperson at GREENDEPOT lead me down another, greener siding path. The quality of their recommended composite siding was equal to my original choice and the aesthetics were comparable. The decision came down to air quality during the construction process and protecting my family and the contractors on the job. And, although I didn't purchase one of the roofing products they offer, I found most of their choices to be those I had been already actively considering. It was aesthetics and ease of recycling that tipped my decision in favor of Authentic Roof synthetic slates.
You can visit GREENDEPOT BUILD Stores in Stoneham MA, Albany (2009), Brooklyn and Greenport NY, Newark NJ, Philadelphia PA, Chicago IL or Newark DE (2009) and the GREENDEPOT LIVE Store in Manhattan. Or, sit in the comfort of your own home and visit http://www.greendepot.com My local store offers some building materials that aren't offered on the GREENDEPOT website. So, if you can, visit your local store, talk to the salespeople, touch the products and choose the green that makes you happy.
