Allison Walker - Your Home

Tile makers from Italy say they have created a tile that is nearly half-recycled, but looks and feels the same as brand new, Italian porcelain.

However, if you can have an eco-friendly product that is the same quality, why isn't everyone making it?

"It's very difficult to maintain the structure of the tile to a high standard when you start using recycled content," Paul Hyde from Emil Ceramica said.

Difficult, but until now, Emil Ceramica's Paul Hyde says, “Not impossible.”

"The Ergon products have a lifetime warranty," Hyde said.

Ergon is a division of Emil Ceramica, an Italian manufacturer. The company showed off its latest kinds of Italian porcelain tiles at the "Covering" Show in Orlando.

"We are using 40% post production waste in our content," Hyde said.

Still, Hyde says tile is not best known or marketed as a "green" or eco-friendly product.   

"There's not a lot of companies right now doing a certified recycled content material," Hyde said.

This product, he says, gets two points for the LEED Program, something the U.S. Green Building Council set up that lets architects find out how green they have constructed their buildings.

For more information, check the Green Home Guide. There you will find 45 Ways to Green the Not-So-New House, home, rent or own. Green homes do not have to be built from scratch.

To see more Your Home stories, go to News 13 On Demand, Digital Cable Channel 313.

 
Click here to comment on this story.