There’s only one earth, so we treat it that way. At Fireclay Tile, one of our core values is to "tread lightly on the Earth." This means a rigorous examination of our materials and how we manufacture. We buy used; we repurpose, we take care of what we have, and we use recycled materials whenever possible. It’s not easy, but it’s the challenge that makes us all the more creative, innovative, and self-reliant. To celebrate Earth Day this year, we're sharing all the ways we work and design towards a better tomorrow.
Zero Waste
This year we've pledged to be Zero Waste. By 2023, we want to earn Zero Waste Certification (meaning a 90% waste diversion and more), reuse 100% of our scrap and ship 100% free shrink wrap and remove single use plastic from our production process. As a part of this mission, we’ve transitioned all of our White Body Tile colors onto our Recycled Body Tile.
Tile Shown: Our new tile colors
Recycled body serves as a vehicle for us to reuse water in manufacturing as well as crush down and re-incorporate tile that doesn’t pass our quality standards. Our Recycled Body plays the most critical role in our efforts to achieve a closed loop manufacturing cycle.
Tile Shown: Ogee in White Wash fresh from the kiln
We've also became a Founding Member of the Good Future Design Alliance (GFDA) to partner, learn, and teach other design and architecture companies on how we can all reduce our waste.
We're Climate Neutral
Since 2012, we’ve been offsetting parts of our carbon footprint and today we are working towards Zero Waste Manufacturing so our tile doesn’t leave a trace. Now we’ve taken it one step further. By becoming Climate Neutral Certified, we’ve joined a community of like-minded brands so we can eliminate our carbon emissions for good (you can learn more about this organization here).
Historically at Fireclay Tile, we've offset our carbon emissions from our own manufacturing and shipping (termed Scope 1) as well as from the purchase and use of energy and gas (termed Scope 2).
With our Climate Neutral Certification, we are taking it one step further and will be measuring and offsetting emissions directly related to the sourcing and production of our raw materials (termed Scope 3). To do this, we are partnering with our vendors to better understand their impact.
Brick for Good
In November 2018 we launched our 1% Brick Give Back to The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) for all our Glazed Thin Brick sales (in 2019 we provided $21K to the organization). The NCPA has worked to protect and preserve America's favorite places for nearly 100 years and we couldn't be more proud to partner with them.
Brick shown: San Gabriel, Ozark, Green Mountains and Cascade
Want to design for good? Order samples online now. Need some help? Simply call, chat or fill out our Design Assistance Form and one of our talented Design Consultants will get back to you shortly.
