From Toilet to Tile

FireClay Tile is putting the commode in “commodity.” The San Jose, Calif.-based decorative tile maker recently began sourcing discarded toilets collected at the Zanker Road Landfill, also located in San Jose, to be recycled into its products.

It took a year for the landfill to accumulate enough toilets to suit FireClay’s needs. The porcelain toilets are crushed into powder and incorporated into a line of beautiful ceramic tiles FireClay owner Paul Burns calls his “Debris Series.” Tiles in the series contain more than 60 percent recycled material and have been used in high-profile projects around the world.

Now if only we could find a similarly artful way to reuse Porta-Johns.

Source: NPR’s Morning Edition