Viken, Sweden—Valinge has won a U.S. patent for a method to recycle floor panels. The company said the method includes cutting the panel into particles, mixing the particles with a binder, and pressing the combination under heat to form a sheet shaped material. The sheet could be used as a balancing layer or a surface layer arranged on a core to form a floor panel.
“Today, around 1 billion of square meters of laminate floors are sold and installed each year around the world,” said CEO Niclas Håkansson. “It means that the same volumes will have to be replaced in the future. A laminate floor panel is a well-defined material and our ambition has been to use this as raw material for future products instead of burning or even sending the waste to landfill.”
The patent is a continuation of an application filed on November 13, 2008.