Are Tiles Environmentally Friendly?Today is World Environment day (June 5th) and with going 'green' at the forefront of most people minds when decorating a property, it's no surprise to wonder if your tiles are eco-friendly too. While some materials are naturally more environmentally friendly than others, we're here to discuss which ones are the best for lowering your carbon footprint so you can uphold that title of an eco-friendly home.
One of the best materials to use for your tiles if you're environment conscious would be stone. Stone is a natural, non-manufactured material that uses minimal processing as all it needs is cutting in to shape. Because of this, stone doesn't require any chemical treatments or glazes that could be potentially harmful to the environment. The way in which stone is naturally constructed gives it great grip and texture that is ideal for bathrooms as it will help to reduce slips and falls. Stone is incredibly durable, so you are unlikely to ever need to replace it as a tile, giving you an unparalleled longevity which will also help the environment by reducing the manufacturing of more tiles as replacements.
Using glass tiles in your home can greatly help you achieve an environmentally friendly property, especially if these are recycled glass tiles. Production of recycled glass tiles continues to grow and is being incorporated in to tile production more and more every year. Mosaic tiles now often include recycled glass to add to their beautiful mixed design. This also greatly helps to reduce the amount of glass that ends up in landfills, damaging the environment further. Glass tiles are very stylish and give a timeless look to a bathroom or kitchen that means you'd never need to replace them and again, as previously mentioned, will therefore reduce manufacturing of more tiles.
Ceramic tiles will give you a long life that means you would never need to replace your tiles once installed, and will also save the need to manufacture more tiles. Manufacturing is the biggest contributor to environmental damage, however, ceramic tiles are created by exposure to high heats in a kiln meaning that no volatile organics are released in to the air during their creation. Cleaning a ceramic tile is also noticeably kinder to the environment, needing only warm water and pH-neutral cleaning products.
Trying to create and environmentally friendly home can be difficult, especially with so many factors to consider. However, we hope this this blog post has put your mind at rest as to which tile would be best for you to choose to cause as little damage to the environment as possible. If you're looking to reduce your carbon footprint even further, it would be a good idea to research where your tiles come from. If they are from overseas then more carbon emissions would be created in transport. In conclusion, tiles are incredibly environmentally friendly and would be an excellent addition to any home that is conscious of their environmental impact.