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Floor Tiles and Patio Blocks

Floor tiles for heavy duty or commercial specialty applications can contain up to 100 percent postconsumer rubber. They are made from used truck and airline tires. Floor tiles containing 90 to 100 percent recovered plastic are also readily available. Patio blocks made from 90 to 100 percent recovered plastic and 90 to 100 percent postconsumer rubber are used in garden walkways and trails.

Recommended Recovered Materials Content Ranges:

EPA's Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN) recommends recycled-content levels for purchasing floor tiles and patio blocks as shown in the table below.

EPA's Recommended Recovered Materials Content Levels for Floor Tiles and Patio Blocks ¹
Product Material Postconsumer Content Total Recovered Materials Content (%)
Patio Blocks Rubber or Rubber Blends 90-100 --
Rubber or Rubber Blends -- 90-100
Floor Tiles
(heavy duty/commercial use)
Rubber 90-100 --
Plastic -- 90-100

1EPA clarified in the Federal Register (FR) at 62 FR 60995, November 13, 1997, that the use of floor tiles with recovered materials content might be appropriate only for specialty purpose uses (e.g., raised, open-web tiles for drainage on school kitchen flooring). Such specialty purpose uses involve limited flooring areas where grease, tar, snow, ice, wetness or similar substances or conditions are likely to be present. Thus, EPA has no recovered materials content level recommendations for floor tiles made with recovered materials for standard office or more general purpose uses.

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Product Information:

Database of Manufacturers and Suppliers
This database identifies manufacturers and suppliers of floor tiles and patio blocks containing recovered materials.

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Additional Links:

2007 Buy-Recycled Series: Construction Products (PDF) (11 pp, 104K, About PDF)
This fact sheet highlights the construction products designated in the CPG, including floor tiles and patio blocks, and includes case studies, recommended recovered-content levels, and a list of resources.

Technical Background Documents
These background documents include EPA's product research on recovered-content floor tiles and patio blocks as well as a more detailed overview of the history and regulatory requirements of the CPG process.

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