‘De Duurzame Tegel’ is a sustainable paving tile made with the bottom ash left over after incinerating household waste.

On average, a Dutch person creates about 150 kilograms of waste per year, excluding recyclable materials such as paper and glass. This waste is incinerated, and afterwards, about 20 per cent of the waste is left in the form of bottom ash. To make the bottom ash suitable to reuse, metals, such as iron, zinc, and copper, are removed. After that, the ash is cleaned, leaving granulate called FORZ, which is used to make the tiles.

Currently, 15 per cent of sand and gravel in the concrete for the tiles is replaced by bottom ash, and the aim is to make that 30 per cent in the future, amounting of about 15 paving tiles per person in amount of waste. Qualitatively, the tiles are the same as normal tiles, and the price is about the same as well. After use, the concrete can be recycled to create new concrete products.

‘De Duurzame Tegel’ was created by Dutch waste processing companies AVR and Mineralz (part of Renewi), and tile manufacturer De Hamer.