Sustainability

BottleStone is a breakthrough in ceramic and recycling technologies. It combines the virtues of high recycled content, zero emissions, and low embodied energy, in a way that has never been seen before.

Four aspects of any manufactured product that impact the environment are:

• The source of raw materials
• Emissions and waste during manufacturing
• The practical life of the product
• The embodied energy

The Source of Raw Materials
BottleStone is made from 80 percent recycled container glass. This is the post-consumer glass exactly as it is picked up at the curb, then crushed to pieces 1/8-inch and smaller. The flexibility of our process also enables us to use other sources of waste glass, including old fluorescent light bulbs and the waste from window and door manufacturing. No special cleaning or washing is required. This compares with the glass used in some concrete countertops, which has to be specially cleaned and sorted, resulting in a large amount of waste.

All of the recycled glass is currently sourced from local recycling programs in the San Francisco Bay area. Wherever we make BottleStone, we plan to only use local recycled materials, collected and processed locally.

Emission and waster During Manufacturing
Since no special cleaning of the glass is needed, there is no water wasted in the process. In fact BottleStone recycles all of the water is uses in its industrial processes. All of the raw materials are inorganic, so there is no "burn-off" during the process. And no "calcining" of raw materials, so no carbon dioxide is generated.

Practical Life of the Product
Well-fired ceramics last forever. 5000 year-old functional ceramic pots have been found in the Mid-East and in the Southwestern United States. Well-fired ceramics require no sealers or maintenance. This compares with concrete countertops, which require sealers and regular maintenance, and composite countertops containing paper fiber, which require resealing to prevent them from absorbing water, swelling and rotting over time.

However, when if BottleStone should need to be recycled itself ("cradle to cradle"), its high concentration of raw glass will allow it to be pulverized not-unlike the original bottles and reconstituted for other recycled glass products or even future product versions of BottleStone itself.

Embodied Energy
To see how BottleStone's embodied energy compares with conventional ceramic and concrete products, we chose comparable products: one-foot square pavers made from concrete, clay, and BottleStone. We have performed strength tests that indicate that a one-inch thick BottleStone piece is as strong as a 1.5-inch thick brick and a 2.5-inch thick concrete paver.

We have made BottleStone in instrumented kilns to empirically determine the amount of energy it takes. We have made one-inch thick BottleStone pavers using 9800 BTUs of green house gases per square foot! This compares to 26,750 BTUs for an equivalent portland cement paver and 20,000 BTUs for a clay paver of equivalent strength.

Need more information? Don't hesitate to contact us at paul@fireclaytile.com.

LEED

BottleStone is eligible for 6 (six) LEED* credits - something you just can't get from natural stone and many other surfaces. And made of 80% post consumer recycled glass can provide substantial LEED value.

LEED refers to certifications for green buildings defined by the United States Green Builders Council. Please visit USGBC for more information.

More Info here about how to spec for a LEED project, process, using Bstone.