The blinds in our new apartment have started to cause us grief - basically all bar one of the 6 blind rollers have stopped working. We’ve had a few people come around to provide quotes etc. and today we went to a little shop in Newtown and got some more information.

One of the questions I asked the salesperson was whether he had any environmentally friendly blind options. He wasn’t aware of any specifically, but he did note that the Evershade blind fabrics were PVC free (which is a good thing). They’re also made locally (in Marrickville, NSW) which is another plus.

(As an aside I’m not 100% sure on why PVC is bad for the environment - but I’m aware from previous research into materials that they should be avoided if possible.)

I went to the blind manufacturer’s website to find out a bit more about the environmental elements of their products and couldn’t really find much else about the environmental performance of their blind fabrics. I did find that they do use PVC in other products.

A little bit of “Google research” uncovered another Australian company Mermet [via Keetsa! blog]. These are listed on the Ecospecifier website - which rates and provides information on environmental performance of building products - but the profile page lists PVC as one of the materials. It seems that their place in the Ecospecifier directory is due to the benefits for heating etc. rather than the manufacturing process.

So I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the products above, or if they know of any environmentally friendly blinds? Either alternative fabrics, or technologies or approaches?

Our place has 5m high windows across 3 levels of blinds - so there’s a lot of area to cover (which also means that wood-based slat blinds aren’t suitable). We’re also not sure what to do with the existing blinds. Although the blinds themselves are in reasonable condition (not great, but certainly still workable) it seems that different manufacturers and retailers all use different fittings etc. so it doesn’t look like it’s possible just to re-use the material.

So if we have to replace rather than re-use we’re keen to work out ways of putting the old blinds to alternative uses - either through reverse garbage or some other recycling scheme. Any suggestions in that direction would be well received as well.