By Louis Iannaco
Whether it is just a “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality or a true desire to protect the environment, consumers want green. And, with an emphasis on environmentally friendly products growing in importance each day, buyers are educating themselves on what is available—applying the same focus on flooring as on green cars and appliances.

But how do retailers highlight ceramic tile’s green attributes to consumers? Christine Abbate, spokesperson for Ceramic Tiles of Italy, said in order to get their green selling story across to consumers, retailers need to focus on exactly what ceramic tile is, with a similar focus on porcelain tile. “Ceramic tile is made from clay, or a mixture of clay and other ceramic material. Like all ceramic materials, tiles are hard, strong, hygienic, easy to clean and fire resistant.”

Abbate urges dealers to emphasize ceramic tile’s natural properties, including its availability and benefits. “Both ceramics and porcelains are glazed or unglazed fired clays. The raw materials used in the manufacturing of these tiles are available in abundant supply. Both are low maintenance, long lasting and do not off-gas.”

Patti Fasan, ceramic tile expert and consultant to the industry, explains tile’s environmental friendliness. “Ceramic tile has a useable life of more than 40 years. Alternative flooring choices will be replaced four, six or eight times in that same period. To determine environmental impact, you must multiply embodied energy, raw material extraction and landfill burden by at least four.

“Educate the consumer by letting her know that selecting a durable material, such as ceramic tile, will last the life of the home [and] greatly reduces the demand for virgin material as well as the amount of material we send to landfills when we replace non-durable material. Clay itself, which ceramic tile is made from, when harvested in a responsible and sustainable manner is considered an eco-friendly material off the bat.”

Like Abbate and Fasan, industry consultant Donato Grosser believes ceramic tile’s natural origins should serve as the dealer’s main talking point when discussing the product to the consumer. “Ceramic tile is basically all clay, along with some other components, which makes the product stronger and harder. Everything comes from the soil. There are no plastics or solvents. Everything is organic—things you’d find in nature such as clay, soil or feldspar. All the components are quarried.”

Lori Kirk-Rolley, Dal-Tile’s senior marketing director, said what determines a tile to be green or eco-friendly depends largely on which organization’s certification is trying to be earned and how that organization’s respective guidelines define what’s green and what’s not. “For example, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has LEED certifications for commercial and residential projects, each with slightly different criteria. The National Association of Home Builders has its own Model Green Home Building Guidelines for residential construction, which has different criteria than the LEED program.

“For the most part, the percentage of Recycled Material Content (RMC) used in production is a common indicator of a product’s greenness. More than 97% of Dal-Tile’s manufactured products have some level of RMC.”

In most green building rating systems, Kirk-Rolley noted, criteria like the distance the material has to travel from the manufacturing plant to the jobsite, resulting in energy savings and less transportation-related emissions, also plays a role. “The fact Dal-Tile has eight manufacturing plants in six states and northern Mexico allows us to be within 500 miles of more projects than any other tile manufacturer.”

Jerry Joyce, commercial sales/national accounts manager for Impronta Ceramiche, states, in general, ceramic/porcelain tile is environmentally friendly and made of natural, organic materials that are readily available around the world. In his opinion, retailers and their sales staffs need to emphasize these attributes to their customers. “For instance, many porcelain tiles are engineered to last the life of the building in which they’re installed. Very little is torn out and dumped in landfills. Efficient manufacturing methods create little waste and even that can be reclaimed. It’s for this reason we’re recommending to USGBC that one LEED point be given to porcelain tile, hopefully starting in 2009.”

With the Internet playing such an increasingly critical role in the education of the consumer, Kirk-Rolley believes dealers need to inform consumers on how they can find specific information on the products they carry. “As part of our DaltileGreenworks initiative, we have an online resource— www.daltileproducts.com/leed—where anyone can go to find real-time recycled materials content of all our manufactured products, either by collection or by barcode on the box of tile.”

Visitors can also search for products by percentage of recycled materials content, identify products manufactured within a 500- ile radius of their jobsite, and download LEED certification letters and Product Specification & Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).

The DaltileGreenworks Web site— www.daltilegreenworks.com—provides “current information on the sustainable nature of our products and processes,” she adds, “including our efforts for conserving water and energy, minimizing use of virgin raw materials and diverting solid wastes from landfill disposal.”