Faience Sustainability
Faience and terracotta have the benefit of being exceptionally “green” materials. In addition to their inherent environmentally friendly qualities, we also work with suppliers who exercise best practice with regard to sustainability objectives.
Clay is a 100% natural material, it is easily extracted and requires little in the way of intensive post-processing. In addition, terracotta and faience building materials are manufactured to last a lifetime and have superior longevity than other less robust materials.
Faience and terracotta have good durability and thermal qualities, which is particularly relevant in light of Part L.
Faience is very easy to keep clean and where necessary in situ repairs can be undertaken. In cases where an element has sustained substantial damage, it can be removed and replaced with a new piece with relative ease.
Glazes are typically created from naturally occurring raw materials and research is ongoing to improve and develop glazes for maximum sustainability.
Kiln firing is one of the least “green” areas in faience production. In light of this there is continual research into developing more efficient kilns that maximize efficiency.
We work with suppliers who recycle as much of their waste clay as possible and reuse it in the production process. In addition waste terracotta is crushed and reused for hardcore and aggregates.
Polystyrene modelling, which is used by some of our suppliers, requires less energy to produce the models and the waste is 100% recyclable, reducing the environmental impact of this process.
Our suppliers will also typically recycle old plaster moulds, which are crushed and used for plasterboard.
Terracotta and faience are inert products and do not release any compounds into the atmosphere. They have the lowest radon exhalation rate of all building products.
