As eco-friendly products and practices move in, green industry professionals are discovering the pollutant potential of concrete and looking for more eco-friendly alternatives.

One possibility is clay pavers. Ted Corvey, marketing director and paver business director at Pine Hall Brick, says the move toward clay pavers is partly driven by the EPA’s Clean Water Act, Section 402: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, a stormwater management initiative by the federal government mandated to municipalities across the country.

Stormwater runoff is an issue because as it rains over hard surfaces, soils, oils and other contaminants are carried into sewage systems and eventually into rivers, streams and other bodies of water. Permeable pavers, like those made by Pine Hall Brick, keep water onsite, allowing it to be filtered naturally into the ground.

This year, Pine Hall Brick introduced two segmental pavers to combat the issue of stormwater runoff – StormPave for commercial sites and RainPave for residential projects. Corvey says that while concrete and asphalt are cheaper, they have to be replaced more often because those materials do not flex with the Earth’s natural movements.

The old way of using segmental pavers involved a base of crushed stone with sand in between pavers to create an interlocking pattern. To make this system permeable, Pine Hall replaces the crushed stone and sand with open-graded aggregates that allows rainwater to drain through to the water table.

Additionally, StormPave and RainPave gain LEED credits for heat island effect non-roof, and while some argue that it takes more energy to fire clay to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, Pine Hall Brick is beginning to use alternative fuels like waste sawdust.

Corvey also says that clay pavers do not use as much energy in transport as other pavers do.

Millenia Walls Solutions is also using another alternative to concrete – recycled polymer units. Paul Forsberg, president of Millenia Walls, says he was approached with this product and immediately loved it.