Background The current technique for cutting ceramic slabs has several major environmental impacts. It generates significant quantities of sludge that cannot be recycled, produces large amounts of non-recyclable ceramic waste, consumes vast amounts of energy and uses great quantities of water to carry away abraded dust created by the process. Objectives Following previous LIFE funded innovations in ceramic production, the project aimed to complete the sustainability cycle of the manufacturing processes by solving the increasing problem of waste production from the cutting and calibration of tiles. The project would establish an innovative dry-cutting system, using a methodology based on brittle fracture mechanics, bi-oriented by means of ultrasound, to achieve the multiple sectioning of ceramic plates and natural stones. The method will thereby eliminate the production of the large amounts of sludge resulting from wet cutting. It will also save water and energy, as well as greatly reduce the amount of hazardous waste produced by conventional methods of tile calibration. Results The project reached all its objectives. The achieved results can be quantified as follows: Elimination of water consumption and of cutting sludge – about 7 000 tons per year of sludge and of about 12 000 m3 water saving per year; Reduction of about 80% of grinding sludge – 2 100 tonnes per year; Decrease in process rejects of about 84% – decrease of about 4 300 tonnes rejects per year, including exhausted wheels to be disposed in landfill; Energy saving in the cutting process of 98%; Elimination of the use of grinding wheels considered as hazardous waste (the new process does not require them) – a saving of about 2 700 wheels per year; and Decrease in noise pollution from 92-94 dB to less than 45 dB. The economic benefits of the project consist of savings on waste disposal, water, energy and cutting wheels costs, while the social and environment benefits include better working conditions for operators, and a great reduction of waste production and water use. These benefits were gained by converting the traditional wet cutting process for ceramic tiles with diamond wheels to a dry-cutting system based on an ultrasound technology. This system is able to cut tiles more accurately than the traditional process. The beneficiary plans to replace the 10 traditional cutting lines it currently operates with new UME lines at a rate of two per year. The technology demonstrated by the project can be reproduced in the ceramic tile production process and in the natural stones industry. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).