With an average of 1.3 million square metres of flooring sold each day, Tarkett is a global leader in flooring and sports surface solutions. From vinyl, laminate and wood to carpet rolls, tiles, linoleum, artificial grass and tracks, the company offers a broad range of products to meet specific customer needs. Technical and Sustainability Director Ross Dight discussed innovation through the supply chain and the company’s 2030 climate roadmap. Report by Antonia Cole.
IN2023, Tarkett achieved €3.4 billion in net sales through its extensive global reach. With 34 industrial sites worldwide, the company is able to combine international strategy with expertise from local teams, creating specialised and effective products adapted to customer requirements.
With approximately 12,000 employees, as well as 23 R&D centres and laboratories, Tarkett has an abundant resource of innovation and technical knowledge that allows for constant evolution within the market. Tarkett concentrates on using new industry developments and technologies to improve the sustainability measures of both the company and clients.
Currently, 13 of Tarkett’s plants send no waste to landfill and 69% of plants are equipped with closed water systems, contributing to the company’s ambition to achieve more with less. This refers to Tarkett’s goal to limit carbon production, water use, waste and environmental impact in operations, whilst maintaining high standards. With 44% of all the company’s energy being renewable and 13 plants using 100% renewable energy, Tarkett is already facilitating the shift to cleaner energy use.
Since 2016, Tarkett has increased its renewable energy supply from 8 Plants purchasing 100% renewable electricity to 13 plants, increasing its percentage from
27% of total energy coming from renewable supply to 44%.
In addition, since 2016, Tarkett, via its ReStart recycling scheme collected a further 10,000 tons of flooring to be recycled in one of its 8 recycling facilities. This contributes to a total of 119,000 Tonnes collected since 2010.
Riding the high road
In order to achieve sustainability targets, Tarkett has established a 2030 climate roadmap. In support of the Paris Climate Agreement objective to limit global warming to 1.5oC, the company will achieve a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2030.
Tarkett has been collaborating with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to
monitor progress since 2023. SBTi assesses and approves Tarkett’s sustainability targets, keeping the company on-track for 2030. This third-party verification shows Tarkett’s dedication to becoming more environmentally friendly and provides a clearly defined path to reduce environmental impact.
“It’s important that we regularly evaluate our progress in terms of sustainability and SBTi facilitate this,” explained Technical and Sustainability Director Ross Dight. “By making sure we’re on track through structured assessments, then we are able to ensure that we will successfully and significantly minimise our environmental impact by 2030, as well as preparing to reach our target of becoming net zero by 2050.”
Through continuous investments into sustainable technology and innovations, Tarkett is utilising its own developments within the industry to achieve environmental targets. Within the past few years alone, the technology to recycle post-use vinyl and linoleum has been advanced and been integrated into the company’s strategy.
One of the main success factors in Tarkett’s 2030 climate roadmap is the company’s ability to take advantage of, and invest in, sustainable opportunities, then incorporate them into operations. Providing annual reports on the company’s sustainability journey allows customers and partners to see the progress of these i nvestments and provides motivation to continue reaching and exceeding environmental targets.
“Going forward, we’re looking into our key partnerships and working with them to improve the sustainability of our supply chain,” said Mr Dight. “As our 2030 roadmap involves our whole value chain, we are trying to involve everyone, from suppliers to customers, in becoming more environmentally conscious. Through education and environmental awareness, the industry has the potential to really grow sustainably.”
Tarkett’s ReStart programme involves encouraging customers to return waste flooring to one of eight recycling centres, for it to then be safely and sustainably recycled. Products recycled include vinyl installation waste, linoleum, post-use homogeneous vinyl and post-use carpet
tiles. This provides a convenient and trustworthy way for companies to recycle and facilitates closed loop recycling.
Breaking new ground
Every employee at Tarkett has received relevant training to ensure they are environmentally aware. The company also extends sustainability awareness outside of Tarkett through attending events and reaching out to stakeholders.
One of Tarkett’s key suppliers is Aquafil, which it collaborated with to develop the technology to improve carpet recycling. Tarkett is now able to separate the yarn and backing of carpet tiles, whilst retaining over 95% yarn purity, meaning this valuable resource can be recycled and transformed into ECONYL nylon yarn.
With Tarkett’s EcoBase, fully recyclable, Cradle to Cradle Gold-certified carpet tile backing, this partnership has produced 100% recyclable carpet. Through collaboration with Aqua Minerals, EcoBase contains 80% positively defined chalk, which is derived
from 100% defined recycled materials. Recycling EcoBase carpet tiles with ECONYL yarn delivers up to 84% CO2 savings in comparison with incineration.
Tarkett has also collaborated with Ragn-Sells to develop carbon-negative mineral fillers for vinyl flooring by 2025.
Ragn-Sells has created a process that extracts calcium from ash piles in Estonia, using carbon capture technology to produce calcium carbonate.
The calcium carbonate currently used at Tarkett is carbon-neutral, but this new partnership expects to generate a carbonnegative footprint and will contribute to Tarkett’s 2030 objective of reaching 30% recycled content in raw materials.
“It’s essential that our partners have the same goals and objectives of environmental protection as us,” explained Mr Dight. “Our suppliers have strong sustainability agendas and are making big investments into improving environmental practices. By having our partners be as invested in sustainability as we are, then we are able to work together and achieve more for the planet.”
Red carpet moments
Sustainability has been an integral part of Tarkett since 1957, when it started recycling vinyl floor production waste. Since then, the company’s capabilities have grown and so has its dedication to sustainable practice. Through its circular approach, Tarkett can take back excess or used materials and recycle them for further use, reducing carbon emissions and limiting the use of raw materials.
Many of Tarkett’s flooring options are Cradle to Cradle certified, which focuses on five key areas: material health, product circularity, social fairness and climate protection, plus water and soil stewardship. This certification gives clients confidence in Tarkett’s flooring, as well as the ethical and environmental nature of production.
“The important aspect of Cradle to Cradle certification is how much it encompasses,” explained Mr Dight. “If I ask a client what’s most important to them in terms of sustainability, whether it be recycled content or renewable energy use, then this certification will still apply. Clients can be confident that we are acting sustainably and ethically throughout all our operations.”
Due to its dedication to sustainability, Tarkett was recognised as a European Climate Leader by the Financial Times, as the only flooring manufacturer on the list, as well as being awarded an A- leadership
rating by CDP. These recognitions support the company on its journey to reaching its 2030 climate roadmap targets.
“The level of support for Tarkett’s sustainability goals is great to see, both inside and outside of the organisation,” concluded Mr Dight. “There’s huge potential within Tarkett to achieve more as a business, in terms of growth and sustainability. I’m excited to see us reach our 2030 targets in the coming years.” n
