Norstone sustainability policy

Raw Stone Material:
Whilst our natural stone materials are sourced from within Vietnam, manufactured, and then shipped worldwide, Norstone is aware and sympathetic to growing concerns for sustainability.

In addition to the benefits of using natural stone as a building material, which has proven to be one of the most sustainable materials throughout the course of history, we’ve also recognised our responsibility to employ sustainable products, processes and ideas throughout our manufacturing facility.

Norstone only procures stone material from licensed and government approved stone suppliers.These stone suppliers and their quarries are monitored by local government agencies to ensure that only appropriate and assigned areas are quarried and that the environment is not affected in an adverse manner.

Government regulations ensure that there is strict control over areas that are allocated to be quarried and areas such as national parks are protected from illegal mining.

Companies with quarry operations must adhere to regulations such as method of quarrying, run off or disposal of waste residue, workers rights etc.

When a lease has expired the company is required to restore the area that has been quarried which includes regeneration of plants and fauna.

Norstone does not procure raw stone material such as pebbles from environmentally sensitive biosystems such as rivers. Because we believe so strongly in the protection of river systems we will never trade or process pebbles.

Water:
Norstone uses 3 sources of water during the manufacturing process: town supply, rain or storm water and recycled water. We have large underground water retention tanks to capture the storm water, especially during the rainy season.

One large water retention tank is designed to capture the waste water run-off from the machinery and cleaning area. This waste water is treated, filtered and pumped back through the water supply for these areas. The silt from the waste water is disposed of and used in road building and landfill because when it solidifies it is very indurate, non toxic and stable.

Recycling water has allowed us to substantially reduce our consumption of town water to the extent where usage is negligible.

Production:
The manufacturing of our natural stone products does not produce any toxic by-products and virtually zero air pollution. We only use low-VOC adhesives which help limit harmful emissions to our environment on our natural stone products that require bonding with adhesive.

Energy:
The energy consumed in producing Norstone products is negligible compared to man made products such as Ceramic Tiles because our products are predominantly hand-made. We have invested in machinery, equipment and fittings that are energy efficient to further reduce energy consumption.

Lighting:
Our modern manufacturing facility has very good natural lighting due to the effective use of sunlight to illuminate the internal working areas. This helps to considerably reduce energy consumption without compromising thermal protection and comfort, plus artificial lighting can produce a lot of heat.

Packaging:
Our wooden crates are made from recycled timber or timber from wooden crates and pallets that are imported into Vietnam. This recycling of timber helps to reduce the impact on local forest industry especially the nascent timber plantations. Norstone is opposed to illegal logging or destruction of virgin rainforests and does not use or encourage the supply of timber from such locations.

Waste:
The stone waste and off cuts generated in the manufacturing process are used by local construction companies for the building of roads and foundation for housing. We use recycled waste water for cutting of the natural stone and capture rain water for cleaning of our products.