Supporting resources

Reusing what has been used is not a romantic attitude of a younger generation. The living tradition of old master builders is the paradigm today if the climate change is to succeed. However, after demolition, most materials are only recycled as building materials of inferior quality. Until now, this also applied to ceramic tiles. Drytile is a big step on the road to circularity.

It starts without glue. The re:use approach is simply not possible with many permanently installed materials. This also applies to ceramic tiles. Attempts to dismantle them result in breakage, which can only be recycled. Drytile has developed an innovative system for dry laying floor tiles that does not require glue. This is environmentally friendly and works much faster than conventional methods. And the tiles can be dismantled undamaged during demolition.

All Drytile components such as ceramic, cork and grout are of natural or mineral origin and therefore harmless to people and the environment. The binder of the cork backing is free from plasticizers, chlorine compounds and biocides. It also meets FDA and BfR requirements and is suitable for food contact.

The tiles are simply stacked on top of each other on a shrink-wrapped and strapped pallet, with the cork layer acting as a buffer and transport protection. This avoids environmentally harmful individual packaging that would be expensive to dispose of. In addition, the low-dust and low-dirt installation ensures pleasant working conditions.

Drytile tiles can be completely dismantled at any time without great effort and are easy to dispose of: not as hazardous waste, but as harmless mineral construction waste (waste code 170904), whereby it is not necessary to separate the ceramic, cork and grout materials.

Certified by the Institute for Energy and Buildings at the Nuremberg Institute of Technology, heat is emitted over a large area in a comfortable manner instead of being distributed selectively by convection. Even with active or passive heating (e.g. through solar radiation), odors, vapors or emissions are neither released nor absorbed.

The sustainable benefits of Drytile are rounded off by the "Hytect" factory finish, which is based on the principle of photocatalysis: Odours and air pollutants are neutralized; tiles with this finish are extremely easy to clean and have an antibacterial effect without chemical substances. This reduces the use of cleaning agents and cleaning effort, saves time and money and protects the environment.

We produce no waste water because we work with closed water cycles. Our detailed process management ensures maximum energy efficiency. In conjunction with the strictest emission standards, we ensure environmentally friendly tile production that sets international standards.

According to the Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management Act (KrWG), buildings should be durable and their individual components reusable or recyclable. A 5-stage waste hierarchy has been established to determine what is important in this respect:

1. Avoiding waste by preserving and revitalizing old buildings
2. Reuse and continued use of building components
3. recycling
4. Other recovery such as incineration to generate heat and electricity
5. Disposal/landfill

Drytile can score significantly here. The ceramic tile for dry laying enables the installation of a high-quality floor with all the advantages of ceramic. Robust and durable, Drytile retains its radiance and color even after decades. The resilient and virtually wear-free system can be easily dismantled and separated by type. Drytile thus revolutionizes the floor, supports the core objectives of the re:use initiative and offers a genuine innovation for sustainable building designs and the desire to renovate existing architecture.

Innovation, sustainability and design now play an important role in many areas of life. One competition that assesses these three aspects (in conjunction with overall impression, elaboration and impact) is the international Green Product Award. This award has been presented annually since 2013 in 14 categories, such as bathroom, consumer goods, mobility, etc., to both established companies and start-ups.

"A remarkable solution that has made a strong, well thought-out impression over its entire life cycle - from the design and materiality to transportation and packaging, installation and usage properties through to dismantling"

The initiator of the Green Product Award and the Green Concept Award (for concepts) is the Berlin creative mind Nils Bader. The award has been presented annually since 2013 - in 2020 in 14 categories, with a record number of 1463 entries from 52 countries and all continents. The awards were presented in March 2020 at the University of Television and Film, Munich. The international Green Product Award sees itself as a platform for products and services that stand out in terms of innovation, sustainability and design.

Nils Bader comments: "With the awards, we not only present exceptional achievements and sustainable alternatives, but also network the players. With the exhibition and talks, we want to surprise and show what is already possible. We don't want anyone to leave the way they came, but to plan, design and ultimately consume differently in the future".