Modular flooring manufacturer, InterfaceFLOR, renowned for its corporate responsibility strategy, has signed a new agreement to help it further reduce reliance on virgin petrochemical materials
InterfaceFLOR, has partnered with European waste management specialist, SITA for its latest green action. SITA will help Interface recover end-of-life carpet tiles directly from customers across Europe so that they can be re-used by the company’s social partners or fully recycled in to new carpet tiles using the company’s pioneering ReEntry 2.0 technology.
In Europe alone, an estimated 30 million square metres of carbon intensive, oil based carpet tiles are sent to landfill or incinerated each year.
InterfaceFLOR has been among those industry players leading the way in reducing this mass. Since 1995, when it introduced its first take-back scheme, it has diverted more than 100,000 tonnes of used carpet from disposal globally.
Lindsey Parnell, President & CEO of InterfaceFLOR in Europe, Middle East, Africa and India says the new SITA partnership marks a major up-scaling in Interface’s recycling and re-use strategies, “At a time when commodities are in short supply and costs are spiralling, it is even more important than ever to make maximum use of what we have,” he says.
“Our ultimate aim is to close the materials loop, so that our used products become the raw materials for our new products, making us an entirely self-sufficient and sustainable business,” Mr Parnell concludes.
InterfaceFLOR’s partnership with SITA will initially operate in The Netherlands, and will be expanded over the next eighteen months to cover more of the EMEAI region.
The new carpet tile recovery partnership is in line with InterfaceFLOR’s Mission Zero goal to eliminate any negative impact it has on the environment by 2020. Since the mid-nineties, the company has made significant progress towards achieving this goal. Major milestones include an 82% reduction in waste sent to landfill
The sustainable flooring manufacturer claims to have saved more than $438 million saved in avoided waste costs since the turn of the century and has experienced considerable financial benefit from the development of products designed for eco-conscious customers.
