Is Pottery Environmentally Friendly?
Is pottery environmentally friendly? The short answer is YES! The long answer is yes, but HOW environmentally friendly depends on the type of pottery, the practices of the potter, and even location. This post will cover a few things you can consider to maximize the good that comes from your pottery purchase.
One note before I start: I make mid-fire stoneware, so because that is what I’m familiar with, in this article I will only be talking about handmade stoneware pottery (not high-fire, low-fire, porcelain, earthenware, raku, or mass produced, which may have different durability, resource costs, food safety, or exploitation of human and/or natural resources).
To keep costs low, potters will generally source as locally as possible to reduce shipping, will fill a kiln load to the brim to make energy costs most efficient, and will recycle the clay trimmed from pieces to throw into something new ...the things we do to keep costs low are also things that improve the eco-friendliness of our product. But keep reading to focus on a few specific things you can consider.
A kiln loaded to the brim:
Learn about sourcing practices.
Pottery starts with materials from the earth itself. That sounds green, right? But in reality, the materials to make pottery have to be mined, transported to the manufacturer, transported to the distributor, and transported to the potter. But the same is true for housewares made out of plastic or any other material. Without diving deep into the details about which materials present the bigger problems, there is one thing we can easily look at: distance. So much transportation is built into a mug that was mass-produced overseas, shipped to a regional distributor, and shipped from there to a big box store for retail. And there can be a difference even among potters, for example a potter on the east coast buying clay from a distributor on the west coast who purchased materials from mines in Australia. So one thing a customer can do is to learn about the practices of their favored potter. Look for a potter relatively local to you who uses relatively local clay that is sourced from relatively local mines. (In general, potters do source their clay as locally as possible, because the shipping cost from even a regionally local location can be just as expensive as the clay itself.)
I’m proud that at Stella Pottery, I use clay purchased directly from a manufacturer located a 3.5 hour drive away from me, and that is 100% sourced domestically: between 26% and 98% of the clay ingredients (depending on which clay) are sourced within 35 miles of their location, and the various other ingredients are sourced from within about 200 miles of their location.
Learn about production practices.
Different potters use different types of kilns. There are advantages and disadvantages to wood fire, gas fire, and electric. I use electric, and I’d like to address one common misunderstanding about an electric kiln’s use of energy. A glaze fire takes me 8 hours and 13 minutes. But the kiln isn’t using electricity for 8 hours and 13 minutes. A program drives how fast the temperature rises and how hot it gets, to accommodate the natural limitations of materials like silica in the clay – rushing through certain temperature ranges could cause problems like cracking. To ramp the temperature in a controlled way, an electric kiln’s relays turn on and off, adding heat and then letting the clay bodies in the space of the kiln equalize in temperature. When the relays are off, power is not being used. Skutt, the manufacturer of my kiln, estimates that the kiln cycles “on” for only about half of the duration of the firing. So for an 8 hour and 13 minute program, the kiln is on for 4 hours and 6.5 minutes. Using the same amount of power as my oven, that’s the same energy it takes to cook a roast…. but I end up with a durable piece of art instead of a meal that’s consumed in 30 minutes.
One big factor in environmental friendliness is how much a potter reuses and recycles. Clay is the bulk of material that a potter uses, and again, to save costs, most potters reclaim their clay. When a pot is dry enough, it gets turned upside-down, and I “trim” the bottom, meaning that I carve off extra clay that is still there from the throwing process, and clean up the bottom. Also, when a pot cracks while drying, if it hasn’t been fired yet, it can be turned back into usable clay. So all of those trimmings and broken pots get dried out completely, then slaked in water, then dried to a plastic, usable state, wedged up, and turned back into clay for me to use.
a: trimming a pot bottom
b: drying the trimmings
c: add water
d: dry to “clay” consistency
Another opportunity for reuse and recycling is in packaging materials. Manufactured clay typically comes in a plastic bag inside a carboard box. Those plastic bags get reused as bags to store reclaimed clay, covers for pots that I want to dry slowly, transparent stencils, all kinds of things. I do end up having more plastic bags than I can use, so the extras go to the recycling center. One thing I never have to recycle is cardboard boxes. I use suitable ones for shipping, and the rest get cut up into strips and squares to use as packaging between small flat pottery pieces. Inside the boxes that I ship, about 80% of my packaging materials for shipping comes from local small businesses who save the craft paper and bubble wrap that their own supplies come in, so that I can pick it up and reuse it; another 5% comes from family and friends who save the packing from their online purchases for me, and for the remaining 15% I buy rolls of recycled craft paper.
Mugs wrapped tightly with cardboard to prevent movement, which will then be cushioned with materials inside the box; and small pottery items wrapped by re-using the paper backing from address labels, and cushioned with second-use bubble wrap:
Consider utility.
Sustainability hinges on durability – the longer you can keep and use a thing, the longer it outlasts a cheap disposable mass-produced product. One thing that affects the durability of pottery is thermal shock. Stoneware is typically microwave and dishwasher safe. Room temperature stoneware is typically fine to have boiling water or an iced drink poured into it, but extreme thermal shock such as taking a mug out of the freezer and pouring boiling water into it can pose more risk - many potters test their wares, so that's another thing you can ask: whether they test for thermal shock and/or durability in general. With just a little bit of care, pottery can add beauty to a lifetime of your daily routine.
Besides durability, another component of utility is usefulness. If a mug has a bottom rough enough to scratch your table, or a handle that isn’t comfortable in your hand, you’re not going to use it in favor of a generic mass-produced mug. So, getting your hands onto local pottery ensures the pieces are a good fit for your own hands, and allows you to check for things like smooth bottoms. I make this point in my quote used in the Redfin article “Is Pottery Sustainable? A Smarter, Eco-Conscious Décor Choice.”
At Stella Pottery, I do test my clays and my glaze combinations for surviving reasonable thermal shock for typical home use, by pouring hot water into a room-temperature mug. I pay close attention to smooth bottoms and smooth rims. And I make handles that fit hands, with texture to reduce slipping to the side, and with a shape that places the balance and leverage such that a mug full of liquid is still comfortable to hold.
Support artisans.
Finally, consider a local potter’s work instead of mass produced wares in big box stores, as a way to support an authentic artisan. Invest in sustaining an individual person who has honed their craft and cares about every piece they make, instead of giving your hard-earned cash to a large corporation, where not only does your investment get split up into the advertising budget and CEO pay, but also where abuses of the environment and workers overseas is common. But one more thing – money spent with a local potter gets re-spent in your local area, supporting other locals, like farmers, small businesses, and other artisans.
In summary, consider
sourcing distances,
production practices, including reuse and recycling,
utility, including durability and usefulness….
Choices based on these considerations can maximize the good that comes from your pottery purchase, by supporting an authentic artisan, and adding both sustainability and art to your daily practice.
This is a mug series I make at Stella Pottery, using 100% my reclaimed clay. The outside glaze is reclaimed glaze from washing my glaze brushes. The impressions were made with leaves that fell naturally in my own woods.