Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of flooring materials: ceramic versus marble tiles

Flooring materials, particularly ceramic and marble tiles, play a relevant role in the Italian economy since this country covers respectively 23% and 18% of the world output in this sector. In this paper a comparative Life Cycle Assessment between these two flooring materials has been carried out in order to identify the one with the best environmental profile and the hot spots of the two systems. The analysis has shown a better environmental profile for the marble tile, a particular relevance of the energy consumption in both the system and, in the ceramic system, the critical point has been found in the raw material used for the glaze manufacturing which are responsible, during the firing process, for the relevant arsenic emissions.