Green and Gorgeous Remodeling: Eco-friendly Countertops

Countertops of the Future

Stop wasting precious natural resources on your kitchen's countertops. Several brilliant companies now offer environmentally responsible surfaces. Some are made of a mixture of recycled components, others simply make use of an eco-favorite material like bamboo (such as this gorgeous surface from Teragren). All present attractive and viable alternatives to conventional countertops.

Recycled Glass and Concrete

For a truly eco-kitchen, get a countertop that removes waste from our local landfills. IceStone countertops are fashioned from recycled glass and concrete. Produced by an environmentally friendly manufacturing process involving wind and natural light, IceStone surfaces rival the strength of quarried stone while actively reducing landfill waste and CO2 emissions. Available through icestone.biz.

Versatile Bamboo

Bamboo provides an excellent environmental alternative to hardwood countertops. Rapidly renewable and sustainable, bamboo is also highly durable, as in this countertop from Teragren.

Best of all, bamboo is a truly beautiful material and will add a natural flair to even the most high-tech kitchens. A wide variety of bamboo flooring options are also available at teragren.com

Recycled Paper

PaperStone surfaces are made from 100 percent postconsumer paper waste. The paper is compressed into a solid block, then covered in natural resin. Strong, durable and beautiful, this recycled and recyclable material provides a perfect solution for any kitchen counter. Available through paperstoneproducts.com.

Construction Waste and Recycled Plastic

Construction waste accounts for more than 15 percent of the trash deposited into landfills. Luckily, 3form found a way to make one man's trash into another's treasure.

3form's '100 Percent' surface is made from 100 percent postconsumer HDPE, a plastic commonly found in landfills. The collection comes in a wide range of colors and textures. Available through 3-form.com.

Repurposed Countertops

Innovative materials company 3form provides surface solutions that can be reprocessed and reinstalled in 'like-new' condition. For example, 3form's colored resin panels, called Chroma, are designed to be colored and recolored again. This allows panels to be multi-cycled into new architectural installations, preventing product 'down-cycling.' See more at 3-form.com