Do your lungs a favor, choose TILE

October 2, 2023 by Neuse Tile Service 2 Comments

It’s healthy lung month, so it makes sense to talk about TILE! The Healthy Building Network (HBN) and the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) have both released studies detailing the negative environmental impact of the flooring industries’ latest trend, Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT).

CEH has a fact sheet with their top 3 reasons to NOT choose LVT:

1. LVT production releases “enormous amounts of carbon dioxide” because 90% of it is produced in China using coal as a raw material and power source.
2. LVT production uses highly-toxic chemicals including mercury, asbestos, and poly-fluoroalkyl (PFA) compounds that are hazardous to workers and contaminate the air, water and soil.
3. There’s no safe way to dispose of LVT since you can’t safely bury, burn, or recycle LVT in landfills. Burying LVT releases toxic chemicals that pollute groundwater; burning LVT releases carcinogens, and “recycling” PVC just puts the contaminants into new products.

And according to HBN, carpet’s not a great choice either, since it usually contains 60% plastic and 2 million tons of it are discarded each year. (That equates to about 1.2 million tons of plastic which is way more than the amount of single-use bottles, straws, and plastic bags discarded in the US each year.)  If just half of the commercial office building carpet that’s replaced every 3 years was changed to tile, then we’d avoid 100 tons of plastic for each building that made the change.

The reality is that most Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, and the EPA reports that indoor air is 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air. Even the average US baby is now born with more than 200 industrial chemicals, pollutants, and pesticides in their blood.

So, when selecting the building products for your next project, think about your lungs and the environmental impact of your selections. Ceramic and porcelain tile are inorganic, have no Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), are inert and totally recyclable. Tile and stone also have the longest life cycles of any flooring choice. Many tile manufacturing facilities are located within 500 miles of us, so it’s a perfect choice for Green building credits as well.

And to get the most of your healthy tile choice, be sure it will last because it’s been installed by a qualified professional. Your lungs will thank you for choosing properly installed tile for many years to come.

#NeuseTile #TileHealthyChoice #WhyTile