When Fritz Industries began manufacturing Fritztile in 1961, words and phrases like “sustainability,” “water efficiency” and “LEED Green Build Rating System” were not on the radar in the scheme of building design and construction. However, it answered the call in these categories then and still does today.

Fritztile was environmentally conscious long before it became trendy. The product offers a 20-year wear warranty and, with proper maintenance, will last the life of a building. As well, it does not require intensive maintenance, thereby contributing to water efficiency.

Fritztile has been continually improved and refined during the past 50 years. It is now as thin as 1/8-inch yet still combines aesthetics with durability. To illustrate, the product has a proven track record in many high-traffic public areas such as New York City’s Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden along with the Los Angeles International Airport. And despite extraordinary traffic and abuse, Fritztile has performed like a champ for many years.

“Environmentally friendly flooring solutions” best describes the new generation of Fritz flooring products. For example, Fritz- Green-Tile, GRN-800 Series, consists of 70% pre-consumer recycled granite and marble generated by manufacturers of products like tombstones. Fritz-Glass-Tile, GL6500A Series and GL9500 Series consist of 50% recycled post-consumer glass aggregate. Recycling glass bottles not only keeps them out of landfills but also saves energy necessary to produce new glass.

In 2008, Fritz launched Poz Patch 100 and 300—fast-setting, flexible and trowelable underlayments—and F-1000 Self Leveling Underlayment, all consisting of 90% fly ash and sand. Fly ash is a fine, glass-like powder recovered from gases created by coal- fired electric power-generating plants. U.S. power plants produce millions of tons of fly ash annually, which is dumped in landfills. Fly ash, used as an environmentally friendly alternative to Portland cement, actually improves the strength and ease of pumping self-leveling underlayment. The use of fly ash also reduces the energy consumption needed to produce Portland cement. Fritz underlayments achieve high compressive strength which meet or exceed Portland cement underlayments, the company said, and is suitable as a substrate for all flooring products.

Fritz FA-1100 and Premium #1 adhesives consist of non-solvent rubber resins and, as is the case with all Fritz flooring products, are VOC-free, thereby contributing to a clean-air environment.

Now that green is cool, Fritz is constantly striving to develop environmentally friendly flooring solutions. Using Fritz flooring products can contribute more than 15 LEED points to a project.