VOC – Volatile Organic Compounds

In recent years the desire to measure the impact of products on the environment and the wellbeing of people has increased dramatically: air pollution, even in indoor environments, has become a recurring theme that all players in the construction industry have to take into consideration.

A new label of environmental classification has emerged that allows being able to assess the level of air pollution of an indoor environment caused by a given product, including in particular and not only, pollutants such as Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs.

These compounds, particularly harmful to the environment and the wellbeing of humans, are extremely volatile and may therefore easily spread into the environment.

They are basically found in solvent-based materials such as varnishes, adhesives, wood treatments, etc. Ceramic tiles, by their very nature, do not contain any VOCs: ceramics are in fact mineral products of mineral chemistry and not of organic chemistry, and their firing at more than 1200 °C degrees guarantees the total destruction of any possible organic residue, specifically of the VOCs. For this reason ceramic tiles are always classifies as A+, since they do not release any toxic substance into the environment.

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