CROSSVILLE, TENN.—Crossville, a tile industry leader in sustainable initiatives, recently announced a Tile Take-back Program. With this program, Crossville has solved the major environmental problem facing the tile industry today—recycling used tile.
Until now, pre- and post-consumer tile has been considered non-recyclable. While many tile manufacturers—including Crossville—have successfully reused scrap powders and unfired tile, hundreds of millions of pounds of damaged or otherwise unsellable fired tile (tile in its finished state) have gone to landfills each year. Additionally, there has been no environmentally friendly manner to dispose of previously installed tile that has been removed for remodeling and renovation.
Crossville has developed a proprietary system of processing ceramic and porcelain tile back into powder used in manufacturing new tile. The resulting new products will have a verifiable recycled content and more than four million pounds of tile—that Crossville has previously sent to local landfills—will be recycled. However, not only will the new process allow Crossville to repurpose its own scrap tile, but its Tile Take-back Program will allow the company to take back samples and installed tile, always a concern for environmentally minded designers.
“Crossville is known for its innovation and its sustainability efforts and this new process is a testament to both,” said James E. “Jed” Durbin, Crossville’s vice president of manufacturing. “It has the potential to transform the way the tile industry manages waste and it does so in a truly green manner.”
Crossville has already begun to incorporate powder produced from recycled tile in its manufacturing and the company is accepting samples and installed tile. Additional details about the Tile Take-back process, including program requirements and a Tile Take-back request form, are available on Crossville’s website.
