EnviroGLAS: Smashing Commode!

EnviroMODE. Manufactured by EnviroGLAS.

Late this summer, the ITT Corporation’s new headquarters was completed. Besides natural light and green products, the White Plains, New York building incorporated 3,300 square feet of EnviroGLAS products, bringing the EnviroGLAS company into the news yet again.

The ITT project included both EnviroPLANK and EnviroSLAB—both made entirely from 100% recycled glass and/or porcelain and color-pigmented epoxy resin. These eco-friendly materials have the appearance of terrazzo and are available in a wide range of colors—from cobalt blue to ruby red, or brown and amber for less dramatic treatments. EnviroPLANK flooring comes in 6” x 36” x 3/8” pieces that are “laid out in a staggered or random bond fashion,” hence achieving the look of wood flooring. Besides the unique EnviroPLANK, the company makes EnviroSLAB, a 1” thick alternative to marble countertops. Like Corian and similar products, the EnviroGLAS line is easy to clean and resistant to stains. Tim Whaley, the mind behind all the EnviroGLAS products, sought to use discarded materials to design strong, green, beautiful building materials. Which is exactly what he did.

EnviroSLAB. Manufactured by EnviroGLAS.

EnviroPLANK. Manufactured by EnviroGLAS.

But the real winner here is the newest product from the EnviroGLAS company, EnviroMODE, inspired by discarded toilets everywhere—particularly those in Dallas. When the Texas city was faced with a 10-year plan to replace all toilets, they challenged Mr. Whaley to come up with a use for all the abandoned porcelain. And voila! The birth of EnviroMODE, porcelain terrazzo made from 100% recycled toilets, tubs, and sinks. Better still, EnviroMODE looks great: “Available in hundreds of colors, the bone-colored porcelain looks fantastic in neutral and earth-toned resins, and really pops in bold resin colors like black, yellow, blue and red.” Mr. Whaley is still inventing applications for this newest material, though he’s hoping that the environmental factor here will convince more architects to fit it into their design plans, as RMJM Hillier Architects of Princeton, New Jersey did so elegantly in the ITT headquarters project. In fact, Whaley wants and expects all recycled building products to “be part of the norm in the future.” Besides the recycled content, EnviroGLAS earns LEED points with an optional waste management program, since they can “assist in the reclamation of glass waste from the construction process.” For residential and commercial projects everywhere, EnviroGLAS provides a guilt-free alternative to everything from marble countertops to wood and terrazzo floors. Place a crisp white Translation Armchair on Mother of Pearl EnviroPLANK or a red Pandanus Chair on a colorful mosaic EnviroTRAZ (for an excellent example of the EnviroTRAZ possibilities, see their project at DFW Airport’s Terminal C). EnviroGLAS is part of a design trend that considers the lasting effects of the materials we use—and does so in high style.

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Tags: countertop epoxy resin flooring glass green porcelain recycled sustainable terrazzo

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