With the recent addition of recycled porcelain, ceramic tile maker Fireclay Tile has developed products with more than 70 percent recycled content.

The Northern California-based company has been using recycled material in some of its products for the past 15 years, and is now upping the amount of trashed materials in its Debris Series and Express Series tiles.

For the past year, Fireclay has been working with local recyclers to identify and get a hold of waste porcelain, like toilets, they could grind down into material to add to their tiles.

Fireclay was able to buy 150 tons of porcelain from Recology in San Francisco and Zanker Road Resource Management in San Jose, adding onto the other waste glass, granite dust and abrasive materials it's been using in its tiles.

"When I first started approaching people to see if I could purchase their waste materials they thought I was crazy," Fireclay founder and chief ceramicist Paul Burns said in a recent Fireclay newsletter. "Now that we have demonstrated success, those conversations have become easier."

Fireclay is now looking for other recycling partners from Oakland to Los Angeles and anywhere else in California.

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