One of my first designs used BioGlass. It's very unlike other glass products. They fuse it under high pressure for a long time. It is made out of recycled glass, but takes a lot of energy to produce. I believe it comes from Spain. The slabs aren't very big. Similar to soapstone--I don't remember precisely, but 4' wide or a little more. It ships from Florida, once it's in the U.S., and must be crated so shipping is very expensive. Then you need someone who can fabricate it correctly--I'd get fabrication insurance on it. It's very expensive.

One thing I decided was that it wasn't a particularly green product to use. It's supposed to have the same hardness index as granite, however. It feels good. Kind of like soapstone, kind of, sort of. On the edge you can see the strata of the layers of glass. I wasn't able to do heavy testing, but it feels like it would hold up to usage a lot better than other glass. Not so prone to nicks, scratches and chips. I had a sample of ordinary slab glass that fell a few inches--the corners shattered. I think the BioGlass would be a lot better.

Because it's glass it's inert. You can etch glass, but not with lemon juice or wine. It's non-porous. I don't know how it would handle thermal shock. They recommend it for panelling buildings, so it would be fine for gradual heating, but I would worry about putting a hot pot on it. Otherwise, it's pretty tough.

There is a limited range of colors. They don't look like they do on the web. Less translucent in normal lighting. The white is beautiful. The dark green with white clouds is a beautiful color, but the white hardly shows because you see the dark green through it. The blue isn't dramatic, but it's fine. I never got to see a sample of the pale green/aqua color, which is the one I was most interested in. Getting samples was very hard a couple of years ago, when I was looking.

The store rep here was able to negotiate a good price on the slabs, but the crating and shipping was just as much, and considering the other issues, and the lack of real eco-friendliness, I just couldn't do it. I probably spent as much or more on my tile, but it has the advantage of being well proven and I expect my kitchen to last at least 30 years.

I was looking at it at epOxyGreen. You might call them for more information.