The thing about women is we love trinkets and deco. It doesn’t matter what your age or background is because chances are there’s going to be always something that appeals to you. And when we speak of house deco, most of us are going to fall for something that’s made of ceramics. And why shouldn’t we? Ceramics are beautiful and lasting! They’ve been around for ages, with their first existence dating all the way back to 24,000 BC.
But the question here is, can something that is born of the ‘earth’ and molded by heat with man’s hands be eco-friendly? Lots of marketers seem to say yes…only I’m not sure we should all just nod in agreement without knowing the good hard facts. And as eco-caring consumers, we ought to take an interest in what exactly we are buying and how our spending habits affect the environment.
What is ceramic?
Well the formal definition by a dictionary is “Any of various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing a nonmetallic mineral, such as clay, at a high temperature.” But I simply would cut the complication out of the picture and tell you we’re basically talking about fired clay products.
So we’re talking about clay!
So it’s clay, but clay is just that natural occurring fine-grained, firm earthy material (mainly silicates) that is plastic-like when wet and hardens when heated isn’t that eco-friendly? Well… perhaps that argument could ring true if only we could say that all elements mined from the earth are harmless, but we can’t because remember clay can be naturally toxic with carcinogenic properties. Furthermore, we are talking about ceramics…which means we’re considering the entire process it takes to transform clay into ceramic.
What is involved in the making of ceramics?
Well mainly the following two items:
- Energy – High temperature to ‘fire’ the clay
- Finishing – Application of glaze
And clearly you can see how neither is eco-friendly. Klins use so much energy, the amount of damage it causes through air pollution alone is alarming, and then when you consider the glazing process which is vilely toxic you really can’t say ceramics is an eco-friendly industry can you? It’s hardly safe for the environment let alone the people involved in it.
So why then do we have ceramic makers who claim their product is eco-friendly?
Honestly, it beats me but perhaps the best that I can explain such a claim is that they are perhaps using non-toxic glaze and a solar powered klin in the production of their products.
In Summary
As usual, nothing is perfect but at least the intentions are noble. We avoid what we can but for that which we can’t we reduce the impact and you must applaud the ‘greener ceramic makers’ for their efforts.
