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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.
| 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 |
²EPA 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.
Product Information:
Database
of Manufacturers and Suppliers
This database identifies manufacturers and suppliers
of floor tiles and patio blocks containing recovered
materials.
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.
