Are some commercial grade valve boxes better for the environment than others?
Yes. Whenever possible, look for boxes and parts that are manufactured using recycled materials. There are a lot of plastic-type valve boxes that are made using recycled materials. If you are building using certain green approved valve box products, you will qualify to receive LEED credits, a third party green building verification system that is used internationally. Question: Most valve boxes our sprinkler company has installed in the past are hard to open up. Sometimes you end up having to dig up the grass around it to get to the edge and pull the lid off. Are there easy open valve boxes for particular customers? Answer: Yes, there are valve boxes that allow for easy removal of the lid. Look for valve boxes with a shovel access slot across the lid. This makes it easy to slide the shovel tip into the shovel access slot and pop the valve box open. You can find sprinkler system irrigation boxes with this feature made by Rainbird.
