Green Road for St. Patrick's Day?

With all the news flying around lately, my head has been spinning and my brain hurts. Too much to comment on, so little time. I don't need to waste my time piling on to Rush, or making fun of the GOP candidates. Others do it so much better than I. So on this snowy Wednesday in mid March, I came across this gem. Wonder if Jon Stewart will catch it. Get ready for some potty talk!

My great State of Washington has the first authentic Green Road. That's right. Well, maybe not quite a road, more like a path...but hey, size doesn't matter....

The Town of Bellingham used 400 toilets to complete a multi-use interurban trail. Yep. Toilets. Crushed up toilets. Freeman Anthony of the Bellingham PWD had the brainstorm when he got a call from the local housing authority, which was upgrading housing and had a load of porcelain gods to dispose of.

It turns out that hard, glass-like porcelain makes a strong aggregate. And soon 5 tons of toilet became four truckloads of concrete.“When it’s mixed in at 20 percent,” Anthony says. “It acts just like regular concrete.”

But according to Anthony, this formula for what he now calls “poticrete” isn’t the most interesting part of this project.

“The toilets were just one small part of the project,” he says. “We didn’t do your standard ho-hum road. We tried to make a better road and more sustainable road.”

The retrofit project is now chock-full of sustainable elements — low-energy LED street lighting, pedestrian and bike-friendly amenities, porous pavement and bioswales that filter stormwater runoff.

I don't know, Mr. Anthony, I think the toilet ARE the most interesting part! Just think what you could do with Fiesta ware!