The quest for “always more” is pushing the limits and threatening the planet. Finding ways to deliver more with less is key. For Tarkett, that means less waste, fewer emissions, greater wellness and more testing.
In addition to Tarkett's ReStart program through which old flooring and installation debris is collected and transported for recycling, Tarkett offers its customers what it calls “Circular Selection” which brings together collections that are eco-designed with end-of-life recycling in mind. Choosing a floor from the Circular Selection is a guarantee that the waste from your floor will be collected and recycled after installation and use.
The search for a sustainable floor can be complex and confusing, and sometimes not all the necessary information is available. At Tarkett, they want to help their customers make informed decisions and offer greater transparency about the impacts of their materials and products through third-party certifications such as EPDs and MHS (environment product declaration and material health statement).
Tarkett's circular selection consists of:
- Recyclable, Endless. Including installation waste and post-use waste through the ReStart® program
- Good for people and the planet. 97% of its raw materials are third-party evaluated according to C2C principles.
- Phthalate-free. All of its European vinyl collections are phthalate-free.
We all agree that recycling safe materials is good, but doing the right thing isn't always easy. How can you be sure that your used or post- installation flooring gets a second life and doesn't end up in a landfill or go to incineration? Tarkett's sustainable flooring collections are recyclable through the ReStart®* collection and recycling program. This means they: have a local logistics partnership to collect installation and post-use waste; and recycle it into raw materials to produce new flooring in their own facilities.
Companies around the world are looking for sustainable flooring solutions to help them reduce carbon emissions and waste and achieve their sustainable building goals. With Tarkett's long-term commitment to fighting climate change and moving to the circular economy, they are pioneering post-use flooring recycling in Europe. A clear example is their collaboration with IKEA to transform used homogeneous Tarkett flooring from their Kungens Kurva store into new flooring. They recovered 10,000 m2 of used vinyl flooring through their ReStart® flooring recovery and recycling program and processed it at the Tarkett recycling facility in Ronneby, Sweden. In total, this project is estimated to have saved around 100 tons of CO2 emissions.
Recycling avoids the need to dispose of waste and extract virgin raw materials for new products, which reduces carbon emissions. The IKEA circular flooring project saved carbon emissions by avoiding the need to produce raw materials from scratch (5.36 kg CO2eq/m2 saved**) and incinerating old flooring (4.23 kg CO2eq/m2 saved). This represents a saving of 9.6 kg CO2eq/m2. For a surface area of 10,000 m2, that means a total climate saving of 96 tons CO2eq. The transport of the materials by truck between Stockholm and Ronneby emits about 2 tons of CO2***. The cleaning process in Ronneby runs on non-fossil electricity and produces negligible climate emissions. The total climate savings from this project therefore amount to 94 tons of CO2.
More information available at profesional.tarket.com
* Calculated using the epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator
** Based on numbers from third-party verified EPD N° S-P-01346.
*** Based on heavy lorry transport of 30 tonnes of material for 550 km emitting 120 grammes of CO2 per tonne-kilometre, according to Trafa Rapport (2015:12)
