Solon, Ohio—Building on its long history of supporting the health of people and the planet, Tarkett North America is broadening its commitment to carbon neutrality and can now boast the largest collection of carbon neutral products in the industry under the Certified Carbonfree Program, the company said.
“Everything we do at Tarkett is designed around achieving a regenerative circular economy,” said Roxane Spears, vice president, sustainability, Tarkett North America. “By continuously improving the health and reducing the environmental impact of our products, we strive to select materials and design products that can be recovered, recycled and transformed—creating not just new products, but a more sustainable future for all humankind.”
For years, Tarkett has been continually reducing the embodied carbon of its products by designing for a circular economy, increasing the use of healthy, recycled materials and finding new efficiencies in its manufacturing. With these improvements, the company said it has achieved lower embodied carbon than the industry average for its vinyl sheet, carpet tile and linoleum products sold in North America.
Tarkett Floorprint
With this comprehensive approach to sustainability, Tarkett said it is working to make sure all design project stakeholders can be proud of their Tarkett Floorprint—an idea that encompasses both reduced impact and positive contributions to human health and the global climate.
“Tarkett’s work is anchored in a bold objective to become a circular business, and every step we take toward that goal is a win for the planet,” said Dhruv Raina, product stewardship director for Tarkett North America. “We are continuing to rapidly improve the Tarkett Floorprint in a variety of ways and providing radical transparency to our customers. Our industry-leading Material Health Statements (MHS) outline clear, third-party verified information behind the Tarkett Floorprint, including our embodied and offset carbon. This additional certification program through Carbonfund further helps Tarkett and its customers understand exactly how we’re reducing and offsetting carbon emissions at every step of our product lifecycle.”
The origins of this commitment to a positive Tarkett Floorprint stretch back to the company’s infancy when, in 1898, it developed a linoleum recipe with 94% natural raw materials, which is still followed today in Tarkett’s Lino product, and has since become the company’s first carbon negative solution.
In addition to linoleum, Tarkett’s collection of carbon neutral products now encompasses nearly every type of floor material, including luxury vinyl tiles and planks, rubber tile, rubber sports flooring, vinyl sheet and carpet tile.
Certified Carbonfree
As part of the Carbonfree Product Certification program, Tarkett has measured the greenhouse gases emitted when manufacturing, delivering and installing products for its customers, then neutralized those emissions through the purchase of carbon offsets.
The first project is the Waste Energy Recovery Co-Generation Project—the first-ever Verified Carbon Standard project in South Korea. Consisting of a 400-megawatt co-generation plant at Hyundai Steel, the project utilizes surplus waste gases to generate nearly three million megawatt hours of electricity and more than one million tons of steam—used by both the plant and the local electric grid.