A little bit of unique tile can go a long way in dressing up any room and you can choose from a good selection of environmentally happy materials. One of the best kept secrets of interior designers is that we often use fabulous accent tile in a very limited quantity. This tactic saves money and emphasizes the unusual material.

My favorite sustainable products are made by Oceanside Glasstile. This company produces gorgeous tile made primarily from silica sand, an abundant natural resource, with many colors also containing recycled content that may include pre-consumer, post-industrial and or post-consumer recycled bottle glass from curbside recycling programs. Glass tile is a very strong building material that is impervious to water and freeze/thaw resistant. Breaking strength on all 4” x 4” field tiles is approximately 900 pounds per square inch of force. This long-lasting durability further adds to this tile’s sustainability.

Fireclay Tile is another leading California ceramic tile company that uses recycled materials and sustainable manufacturing practices, based in San Jose, California.

They make a durable and hand-made ceramic from fireclays from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The geologic formation of fireclays depended on rock from the earth’s crust being weathered by rain, wind, heat, cold and abrasion. This eroded rock was carried away by water resulting in minerals containing silicates of alumina.

After the Glacial Period (800-600 million years ago), waters receded leaving this fireclay sediment and silt. The high alumina content of fireclay enables it to withstand temperatures up to 2800 degrees F without deforming.  When fired the formation of aluminum crystals creates an interlocking matrix giving a very strong clay body and a strong clay-glaze interface. Because fireclays are slow drying they warp less than other clays making it a good body for tile.

In 1988 Fireclay Tile converted to a system of 100 percent lead free glazes. In 2000 they began incorporating 25 percent post-industrial recycled c content (granite dust) into tile. Today their Debris Tile series is composed of over 70 percent recycled content, the majority of which is post-consumer waste from glass bottles. Energy used to make Debris Tiles is 50 percent of other tile manufacturers due to its high recycled content.

Debris series uses all locally sourced recycled materials: The waste glass is made up of baghouse dust collected from local glass recyclers; the granite dust from a neighboring granite quarry; and the spent abrasives are from the cleaning of pipes that transport water to the city of San Francisco.

Terra Green Ceramics is another company that has been manufacturing recycled content tile since the late 1970s. Their products, made for both wall and floor surfaces, are certified by the most prestigious independent certification organization in the US: Scientific Certification Systems. All of Terra Greens tile products are made with over 55 percent recycled glass. Check out the porcelain look of Terra Traffic, the contemporary styling of Terra Elements, or the richness of Terra Metallics.

If you want more information about eco-friendly tile, check out TileMagOnline and go to the "Green Matters" section.

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