The World population has proliferated over the years to 7.9 Billion people and we, humans are the culprit in contributing to the pollution and greenhouse gasses worldwide which give rise to global warming, clogging the landfill, unhealthy air quality, and toxification to our water source. Is this the future we want for the next generations?

Whenever we have recycled contents in the tile products, it helps to reduce wastes, re-use materials and conserve natural resources while alleviating unnecessary or excess materials ending up in landfills or incinerators. At the same time, by cutting back on energy consumption, it will reduce carbon emission as well as toxic fumes from polluting our atmosphere and reduces greenhouse gasses. This can speed up the recovery of mother earth and ease global warming. We need to save the earth and the lives of others from natural disasters like floods, heatwaves, drought, abnormal weather patterns, famine and so forth. Additionally, the glazed on tile surface coating for eco-friendly tiles is only permitted with a low and permissible content level of heavy metals which originated from contaminated soils that may pose a hazard to our health and environment. The rule of nature dictates that if we consume less, then we conserve more.

There are 3 main types of classification under the umbrella body of ISO International Standard of Environmental Labels which are:

Type I Environmental Labelling for eco-labeling schemes where there are clearly defined criteria for products
Type II Self-declared Environmental Claims for products or services where there are neither criteria nor labeling schemes
Type III Environmental Declarations for specific aspects of products that are using a life-cycle approach

Typically, all products that have eco-friendly labels on their packaging or carton boxes will fall in the Type 1 Category which includes SIRIM Eco Label accreditation and it helps consumers to differentiate what they are getting from the market. It is our responsibility as a consumer to safeguard our future environment by using environmentally superior and benign tile products. With the eco-labeling on the packaging, consumers will be confident that they too play the role as the guardian of our earth which we called home.

Green products can be further classified into pre-consumer and post-consumer products. The distinction is that the former has unwanted wastes from the manufacturing floor and being repurposed into a product for consumer use while the latter is wastes that have been used, disposed of, and recycled into a product with resell value.

The majority of the tile products available in the market are pre-consumer recycled content whereas a handful is from post-consumer recycled contents like embedding disposed glass shrapnel into tiles or wasted TV screens into it. In Malaysia, post-consumer tile products are a rare gem and can be very expensive if imported from countries like the United States or Europe. Even if we were to import those in, it will only increase carbon footprint due to its shipping distance which is detrimental to our environment.

With the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) involvement in the year 2009 to inculcate a good corporate social responsibility (CSR) for corporate companies to support their efforts in preserving environment and sustainability, Green Building Index (GBI) is incorporated to rate buildings that are Green, using GBI rating system that fulfills their specific requirements. Assessment and accreditation are tasked to the GBI qualified and trained certifiers.

Points are obtained for each requirement and will be totaled up to secure the GBI rating based on the chart below:

The higher the scoring, the greener the building will be with its efficient use of resources like water, energy and materials in the life-cycle of the said property. In long run, it improves the quality of human life while commiserating with its surrounding environment and in harmony with the local climate

The GBI marking criteria is further broken down to Non-Residential New Construction (NRNC), Residential New Construction (RNC), Non-Residential Existing Building (NREB), Industrial Existing Building (IEB), Industrial New Construction IINC), Interiors (ID) and Township (T) where recycled tile products find relevance in all except for T category.

Under the Materials and Resources segment, the marks can range from 1 to 4 depending on the category of building it is in. This is why it is important that eco-friendly tiles can help applicants score marks according to the percentage of usage of the total sum of pre-consumer and post-consumer materials used (in contract value based on cost) in comparison with the total materials value used for the specific project.

The professional like the architects will usually ask for the test report from the supplier to show proof of their claim and verify with the eco-label accredited body like SIRIM, if necessary for review and onward submission.

The effort of protecting our earth is a daily routine that we need to do right, starting with us, at home with the family and children. All of these can be accomplished when we have more education at every level, be it at schools, at the public or private sector to instill the knowledge of its impact on our environment and livelihood if we do not start saving our planet this very minute.

Methods on how to dispose of our waste correctly or conserve our energy and water properly must be taught and shared through the dissemination system effectively. At the same time, government agencies can initiate plans to encourage citizens to go green by rewarding them with monetary gains while passing laws to enforce or penalize offenders who pollute by slapping them with harsh penalties and shun them in public through the government’s media in order to refrain them from repeating.

Our first baby step is to teach our children the benefits of buying a recycled product.

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