Blending a Greener Green Roof Soil Media
Green roof planting soils, also known as ‘growing media’ are designed to meet strict weight, drainage, and nutrient criteria. Non-renewable resources such as sand and high carbon footprint material in the form of expanded shale are 2 components that help meet these criteria. OLIN Eco Lab designed an in-house research project to study how to replace both sand and expanded shale with other components to see if we could create an extensive green roof growing media that replaces mined sand with recycled glass, and replace expanded shale with lightweight Biochar.
GREEN ROOF PLANTING MEDIA MUST MEET THESE IMPORTANT CRITERIA:
Lightweight - saturated weight equals (20-30 lbs./sq. ft. – extensive roof; 60-90 lbs./sq. ft. – intensive roof)
Support plant growth
Will not blow off roof
