Circulary

Since 2010, Tarkett has been engaged towards developing Circular business models and applies Cradle to Cradle® principles. This means that products are designed to be recyclable, made from green or non-harmful chemicals, all materials are assessed by a 3rd party which thoroughly goes through their composition and evaluates their toxicity.

They are produced conserving water and using renewable energy. To reach this ambition, Tarkett employs eco-design and uses materials that are safe for people health and the environment, recyclable or rapidly renewable. In the eco-design phase, once materials have been evaluated, other elements are factored in: water consumption in both production and use phase, energy consumption in both production and use phase, Life Cycle analysis are conducted, recycling opportunities for the products at their end of use are identified.

When choosing flooring for an HQE (Haute Qualité Environnementale) building the main criteria are:

• Optimum durability of the product = iQ Natural is one of the most durable homogeneous Vinyl flooring on the market. Using the dry buffing maintenance methodology restores the surface’s properties.
• Indoor Air quality and Low Volatile Organic Compounds emissions = Tarkett’s iQ range has VOC levels far below all regulations (less than 10 µg/m3).
• Recyclability of the materials: iQ Natural is 100% recyclable and enters back into a technical cycle (new homogeneous flooring).
• Minimise waste: through Tarkett’s take-back program Restart, offcuts generated by fitting are collected, sorted and reused into new flooring.
• Use of non-toxic materials: iQ Natural uses a bio plasticizer (castor oïl).

• Combining iQ Natural and ReStart = no waste from flooring material, all offcuts collected from site.
• 100% of offcuts collected, 98% of them made their way back into a new flooring. Through the ReStart Reclamation Program, Tarkett has recycled over 91 million pounds of post-consumer recycled material since 2009.
• Training of all floor fitters to optimise collection and conversion rates of offcuts.
• Recycling 1kg of vinyl floor saves 2kg of CO2.
• Tarkett has committed that by 2020, all of their products will contain 75% recycled content, or rapidly renewables or abundant-in-nature
  materials – or some combination of all of the above.

• Careful planning and design is necessary when working on such projects. The main difficulty lies in the fact that sometimes requests from different stakeholders might be in total contradiction with one another.
• Architectural demands might not be in compliance with regulations when it comes to the use class of the products. Conciliating the two can prove very challenging. However, Tarkett is well organised and the information provided is easy to find and helpful (technical data sheets, certifications such as Cradle to Cradle, etc…).
• Working within a tight budget was not particularly difficult as solutions providing good circular framework are readily available in Tarkett’s ranges. Information is key in the very early stage of such projects.
• Lessons learnt: Pre-study phase is crucial, it was necessary to spend a lot of time on understanding the different parties requirements and how they should fit into a Haute Qualité Environnementale project.

Client: Ministère de l’Intérieur
Deputy: Ministère de la Défense – Secrétariat Général pour l’Administration
Service d’Infrastucture de la Défense (ESID IDF)
Contractor / Architect: Groupe 6
Engineering BET HQE: SLH and Sorane
Flooring supplier: Tarkett

Elodie Jupin

+33671387382

elodie.jupin@tarkett.com