Look for locally sourced quarry tiles — they require less energy. Make sure natural glazes have been used; unglazed tiles are course and porous. As a fun alternative, ask your local tile warehouse for any damaged or dropped boxes. You can arrange broken tiles into a mosaic pattern for a beautiful finish.

Set the tiles into cement grout instead of adhesives to avoid adding VOCs into the air. Choose a colored grout instead of white to hide dirt; the grout lines are difficult to keep clean. Seal the completed tile and grout with a water-based sealer.

With careful planning, you can design the bathroom to fit the spacing of the tile. Doing this will avoid cutting, look much better, and reduce waste. If you must cut tiles, do it outside to keep the dust out of the indoor air.

If properly installed, ceramic tile can last 50 years or more, and it biodegrades after removal. Tiles can be reused if carefully removed, or crushed and recycled into aggregate filler for concrete.

Glass

Glass is an all-natural product, made of silica (sand) and melted into a variety of shapes, colors, and types. Because glass is healthy and can be found locally, glass is a fairly green product. Manufacturing glass does require some energy, so recycled glass is an even better option.

Recycled glass tiles are gorgeous and gemlike, and they’re a great choice for a backsplash or shower wall. Recycled glass is produced from recycled windshields, bottles, and windows, then crushed to a sandlike texture and mixed with other ingredients, including minerals that add color. This mixture is then heated until the glass particles soften and fuse on their edges. This process uses far less energy than standard glass or ceramic tile manufacturing. Made from a mixture of sources, these recycled tiles contain slight imperfections and bubbles, adding character.

Tip: The color of the grout shows through some of the clear tiles, so choose a grout color with that in mind.

Metal

Environmentally speaking, metal is incredibly durable and easily recyclable, making it an attractive choice. Unfortunately, the production of metal is incredibly harmful to the environment. From mining the minerals to the energy needed to melt it down to the greenhouse gases released from this process, metal has a huge negative impact.

Different types of metal vary in their impact. Copper, for example, is destructively mined using slave labor in South America.  ....read more