Choosing kitchen countertops can be an eco headache, considering that many natural hard surface options are traveling from a quarry thousands of miles away. That's why I was intrigued to learn about a quartz product called Cambria, which is mined right here in North America.
Cambria is the only quartz surface product manufactured in the USA, which reduces the environmental impacts of transportation. The material comes in a wide range of colors, from minimal monochromatic options to organic styles that resemble granite. Pricing is similar to other solid surface products and is estimated at about $60/SF installed. In addition to their location, here are a few other ways the company is aiming to improve their product and practices:
- 100% of the water in their production plants in recycled.
- All diamond-metal tooling is re-tooled and reused.
- Scrap material is collected and used as road base material for local construction projects.
- A-frame shipping crates that transport slabs and fabricated product are recycled and refurbished.
- Cambria works with their mining partners to ensure that quarries are fully restored after quartz extraction.
Read More: Cambria Quartz
(Image: Cambria USA)
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All materials, mined and processed, take resources. Energy, people, and environmental impact vary depending on the material. There is still an impact though. Best is to buy as local as possible, and make or create as much yourself as possible.
That first photo is simply gorgeous-- definitely the first time that a countertop has made me drool. It does sound like this is a better alternative to granite, but still not very green. If I ever get the chance to redesign my kitchen, I will definitely be picking a countertop made of recycled or at least renewable materials (such as wood). The cynic in me also thinks it not unlikely that the future owners will at some point decide to redo the kitchen (and for that reason rip out the countertops)-- it breaks my heart to think of that beautiful quartz being tossed aside. The thought of that happening to countertops made of recycled paper, however, gives me less of a pang.
This is a timely post for me. We are saving up our dollars for a kitchen renovation in the next few months, and we've been looking at the options through our local green home building supply store. We've brought home samples of recycled paper tops, bamboo and recycled glass. They are all beautiful, and since granite isn't even an ideal material, I hope we see more and more eco-friendly options.
Yes, this is beautiful, and I agree that using local resources is better than using those that are transported to wherever you live. Have you seen areas that have been mined? They're pretty devastated. There are excellent comparables that use recycled glass and concrete (Icestone, for example) that cost about the same but their cost is for labor done in the U.S., not in transportation and extraction. These will become more beautiful as the demand for them increases. (I love my Icestone countertop.) And yes, with people chucking previous kitchen renovations, what's its real lifespan for all the embodied energy?
I have Cambria countertops and have been quite pleased with them. They're not as green as recycled-material countertops, but the company ethic is decently impressive.
Great comments! I went through the same dilemma when we chose ours and ultimately decided that something that was durable and timeless would be the best way to go. I think a lot of times it comes down to weighing the embodied energy of the product with how long it's going to last. The US-made recycled products are great too, but from what I've found are incredibly expensive and outside the range of most homeowner's budgets. Hopefully that will begin to change though.