These recycling initiatives are based on the company’s proprietary process for recycling fired porcelain products, including post consumer materials. Through Tile Take-Back®, Crossville is able to recycle previously installed tile collected from its distribution network, as well as scraps that result from tile cutting during installation, sizing, or sample creation.

Through its TOTO partnership, Crossville receives pre-consumer fired porcelain toilets that do not meet quality standards; prior to the partnership, these cast-offs were being sent to landfills for disposal.

All 40 million pounds of diverted material have been or will be recycled into feed stock to manufacture new tile, leading Crossville to maintain net waste consumption at its plants for a third consecutive year. Net waste consumption is achieved by using more waste than is created during production.

Between both Tile Take-Back® and the TOTO USA partnership, Crossville achieved the following in 2013 -- ground and reused 7,706,286 pounds of fired scrap produced at the company’s plants that would have previously gone to landfills; received and recycled 87,411 pounds of waste including scraps and post-consumer tile extracted from renovation projects; and received and recycled more than 7,288,860 million pounds of TOTO’s scrap porcelain.

Since the Tile Take-Back® launch in 2009, the company’s cumulative recycling totals include nearly 18 million pounds of fired scrap produced at Crossville’s plants, more than 300,000 pounds of scrap and post-consumer tile, and 20.9 million pounds of scrap porcelain from TOTO USA.

Crossville officials state that the 2013 increase was the result of a higher volume of sanitaryware sent by TOTO, as well as more internally produced fired scrap resulting from the trend towards the popularity of larger and modular sizes achieved through cutting of field tile.

The Tile Take-Back program is Crossville’s answer to the major environmental problem facing the tile industry today: the recycling of fired tile. Because this program is so beneficial throughout the industry, Crossville openly accepts post-consumer tile from other brands, as well as projects not originating from Crossville.

Tile Take-Back® and the TOTO USA partnership are just two of many sustainable practices Crossville maintains companywide. For more information about all such practices, visit
http://crossvilleinc.com/contract/sustainability/practices_and_partnerships.