By Louis Iannaco
With so much focus in recent years being put on manufacturers in all industries to lighten their carbon footprint as much as possible, flooring’s ceramic tile producers have taken the initiative to heart with innovative programs and state-of-the-art techniques resulting in earth-friendly, yet high performance products.

According to Lori Kirk-Rolley, senior marketing director for Dal-Tile, “More than 97% of our products contain pre-consumer recycled materials, allowing the use of virgin raw materials to be minimized to the greatest extent possible. Overall, Dal-Tile diverts more than 200 million pounds of solid waste from landfills each year through our recycling efforts.”

These recycled materials come from a variety of sources, she explained, including reusing waste from its own manufacturing processes, as well as those of other companies. “For example, we recover and reuse our own fired tile waste, allowing us to divert an average of 35 million pounds of solid waste from landfills each year.”

In addition, products made with the mill’s OutStand Technology, “contain some of the highest pre- and postconsumer recycled material contents in the industry,” Rolley noted.

As a result of these and other initiatives, she explained, such as the company’s Greenworks program, “which dramatically reduces our environmental impact and improves the efficiency in which raw materials are used.” Daltile and American Olean branded products help building and remodeling projects achieve credits and/or points in a variety of green programs, such as the U.S Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.

At Florida Tile, its Creating A Responsible Environmental Strategy (CARES) program is designed to allow the company to conserve energy and reduce waste “through any means possible,” said Sean Cilona, director of marketing.

“Through CARES,” he explained. “we’ve reduced waste in our plant by recycling water, raw materials and even dust back into our production process. And, through a grant from the state of Kentucky, we will replace all the lights in our factory and distribution center with high efficiency fixtures, allowing a 74% energy reduction.”

Recently, Florida Tile invested $150,000 in a new tile-grinding machine for its factory in Lawrenceburg, Ky. “We’ve always been able to reuse unfired and fired ceramic as well as unfired porcelain,” Cilona said, “but this new technology allows us to include fired porcelain tiles into our body. With this new machine, we’re able to include at least 10% pre-consumer recycled content into all products manufactured in Lawrenceburg.”

Helping those in need
Beyond manufacturing, he noted the company’s involvement in Tile Partners for Humanity allows it to engage with local and international organizations “where we channel unsellable tiles to the underprivileged. This reduces waste going into landfills, at the same time benefiting the recipients.”

At Crossville, the company continues to promote its Tile Take Back program, which, according to Laurie Lyza, director of marketing, “not only allows us to recycle our own fired waste, resulting in pre-consumer recycled content for making new tile, it gives us the ability to take back tile that was previously installed, allowing us to make product with postconsumer recycled content. We are beginning to see a wide range of specifications that include the Tile Take Back program and expect the program to continue to grow as word spreads and economic improvements spur remodeling projects.”

The Tile Take Back program also created a new production process, she added, allowing Crossville to reuse fired waste.

Changes at the company’s Tennessee plant include a filtrate system that removes and captures particulate matter from the water stream, which lets Crossville not only to reuse the water in production; the recaptured waste is used to make new product.

“We are also constantly looking at small ways to help the environment,” she added, “which can add up over time. For example, we now serve filtered water in our learning and visitor center, rather than providing guests with bottled water. When you consider thousands of visitors, year after year, that’s a lot of bottles. We also have a system that automatically shuts down idle computers after a certain amount of time. Again, these are small steps, but they can have a major impact cumulatively.”

Getting the word out
Incorporating environmentally friendly practices and techniques into their manufacturing processes and products is one thing, but in today’s world of green rating systems it is important for manufacturers to let people know exactly what it is they are doing and how their products can help projects earn high marks in these programs.

“We try to incorporate our green story in everything we do,” said Lyza. “We are implementing new technology that will help us reduce the use of printed marketing materials, and that will be a good message for us. We are actively involved in the Tile Council of North America’s Tile the Natural Choice initiatives, and we are working to fine tune our message and make it easier for customers to find information about what makes us green in addition to promoting recycled products.”

According to Rolley, one of the most useful elements of the Greenworks program is its LEED websites (daltile.com/LEED and americanolean.com/LEED), “where visitors can find recycled content for Daltile and American Olean products, and many sourced ones.”

Said Cilona, “Like all manufacturers, we try to get our message out in the most widely viewed way possible. Our approach is through several channels, which include customer presentations, local and national print advertising, tradeshows, merchandising and literature, and through the Internet. With the launch of our new website this summer we are able to go into detail on all aspects of the CARES program. We can inform and educate visitors on our targets, our practices and how they can use our products effectively.

“The most important thing we want to tell the public is,” he concluded, “that tile is the best flooring product for many reasons: It is durable, easy to clean and maintain, the most cost effective over the life cycle of the floor, and it is inherently green. Our products are made from natural materials, do not emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and, by nature, do not promote the growth of bacteria. These basic elements, combined with responsible manufacturing processes, make tile one of the greenest flooring options available.”