Biodegradable Construction Stakes 

I am an aspiring Civil Engineer whose background in business has made me realize the competitive advantage that something as restrictive as regulatory requirements can provide.  By finding a balance between the emerging concept of “Bio-engineering” and conventional construction methodology, I have created a product that can streamline yet another universal construction practice while minimizing the impact on the built environment.

Conventional construction stakes are a primary item used in surveying.  Many of these stakes are piled into the ground in order to communicate right-of-ways or boundaries to other parties over a short term period, but the problem is the vast majority of the installed stakes are not reclaimed – they stay in the ground.  Additionally, most stakes are colour coordinated in order to represent different things on a construction site.  Colour is often added via typical spray-cans and corresponding flagging tape.

What I am proposing is a cardboard-based construction stake.  This product can still follow the typical “install and forget” procedure.  The difference being, you can feel good knowing that the product will be out of the way sooner when it passes its usable life cycle.

This is a product that can be used throughout the construction industry, though it would be most impactful in the pipeline industry given the relatively high linear meter measure in typical projects that occur in remote areas (which are often environmentally sensitive).

There is a notion that the construction industry (in general) generates the vast majority of “waste” in our communities.  This is simply another solution to address the sociopolitical aspect of a necessary sector that gives company’s another argument of due-diligence towards constructing in a sustainable manner.

Our construction stake biodegrades in less than a quarter of the time that a conventional stake can decompose in.  This is because the corrugation provides more surface area exposure which makes the stake more susceptible to regular weather-related erosion.  This does not pose a problem since locates are only valid for 14 days from their initial installment.

Instead of relying on post-purchase oil based spray-can paint, our stakes are pre-coloured using the same type of inert dye that is used in “flow tracing” in water bodies to test for sufficient mixing.  In layman’s, this dye has no detrimental effects on the environment it is used in and is already an environmentally acceptable option.  The dye comes in a series of colours to correspond to typical colour codes in construction.  More specifically, Rhodamine WT (Orange), Lissamine FF (Green), and Amino G Acid (Blue) are just some of the basic strands used in this environmentally responsible product.  Additionally, the fluorescent dye that we use is less expensive and less wasteful than the typical flats of spray-can paint that are commonly purchased.

Above all of this, we are the only company that builds regular sized stakes (48 inch) out of these materials.

The substitutes and alternatives that exist all have a common problem – due to the lack of retention, site management is seen as unprofessional and irresponsible until the stakes are taken care of.  This typically involves an unhappy landowner who is left to take care of the clean-up.

There are some biodegradable stakes that exist, but they are used for more things such as geotextile anchoring which means they have to be built out of a more substantial material (commonly recycled plastics).  This means that their decomposition time is in the range of 2-3 years – much longer than our cardboard design.