Tarkett has released its Corporate Social & Environmental Responsibility (CSR) report, showcasing its sustainability commitment and progress. This non-financial performance statement has been audited by an independent third-party organization, KPMG. In 2018, Tarkett not only reduced its environmental footprint but also contributed positively to global societal challenges, inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and by the 10 principles of UN Global Compact.
2018 sustainability performance highlights:
- Material assessment and transparency: 98 percent of our raw materials – representing more than 3,000 materials – are third-party assessed for their impact on people’s health and the environment based on Cradle to Cradle criteria.
- Flooring contributing to indoor air quality: 97 percent of our flooring has low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions, 10 to 100 times lower than the strictest standards.
- Healthy indoor spaces: By end 2018, 100 percent of our vinyl production sites in Europe, North America, Serbia and China use non-phthalate plasticizer technology in flooring.
- Preservation of resources: 70 percent of our raw materials do not contribute to resource scarcity, being abundant in nature, rapidly renewable or recycled.
- Recycled resources: 134,000 tons of recycled materials are used as raw materials, representing 10 percent of the volume of purchased raw materials.
- Flooring take back: 102,000 tons of flooring were collected from 2010 to 2018 through ReStart®, Tarkett’s flooring collection program in Europe and North America.
- Climate change: Greenhouse gas emissions (per square meter of manufactured product kgCO2e/m²) were reduced by 8.5 percent in 2018 versus 2010. 27 percent of the energy consumption comes from renewable sources, such as biomass, geothermal, solar or purchased green electricity.
- Supporting communities: Through Tarkett Cares, the company encourages all employees to spend up to two days per year of their work time on charity initiatives. In 2018, 1,300 employees were involved in 170 initiatives and over €800,000 contributions were made to community initiatives.
- Developing talents: Through Tarkett Academy, over 23,000 professionals or students were trained in flooring installation techniques from 2012 to 2018.
2018 sustainability examples across the globe include:
- Supporting NESTO, a collaborative social housing project built using circular economy principles through two environmental friendly products. Tarkett has participated in an innovative social housing project in Luxembourg, helping to create a modular apartment block that can be disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere, when it reaches end of life. The three-story NESTO building in Wiltz comprises six affordable apartments for underprivileged families and is the first of its kind to be built fully using circular economy principles. The building benefits from two healthy, environmentally-friendly Tarkett modular flooring solutions; iD Revolution (330 m²) and Cementi Click (230 m² ). iD Revolution is a Cradle to Cradle Gold certified modular resilient flooring, made with recycled materials and natural fillers. To create iD Revolution, Tarkett uses recycled PVB from windshields and safety glasses for incorporation into the product formula. Cementi Click is a new mineral-based tile, made from 95 percent clay, cement’s main composite. Both iD Revolution and Cementi Click are recyclable, supporting the NESTO project’s efforts to close the loop.
- Recycling wood flooring, the Lignum Aeternam project: Tarkett conducted a pilot project for wood recycling in collaboration with Bouygues at the occasion of the former 3 Suisses warehouse decommissioning in Northern France. We took back 1,000 m² of old solid oak parquet, reprocessed it and reengineered it to make a new wood flooring product, thus testing and demonstrating the feasibility of recycling wood flooring in our manufacturing process. Nordic customers from both project and distribution sides are particularly interested in this newly created recycled-based wood flooring, which we called Twirl.
- Combating climate change and improving livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon: Tarkett is one of seven companies who are supporting a sustainable agro-forestry project in the Peruvian Amazon as part of the REDD+ Business Initiative. The Tambopata-Bahuaja Biodiversity Reserve project aims to protect local biodiversity (including over 30 high conservation value species), conserve endangered forests in a 591,000-ha area and restore 4,000 ha of damaged land, while supporting the livelihoods of 288 farmers by cultivating high quality cacao in a sustainable way; offering them a better income and avoiding further deforestation. Stopping deforestation is one of the most effective measures in the fight against climate change. Tarkett and the other companies in REDD+ Business Initiative are buying carbon credits through this project which is expected to avoid over 4 million tons of carbon emissions by 2021.
- Partnering with Habitat for Humanity with flooring product donations worth US$ 400,000: Tarkett North America has donated flooring products worth approximately US $400,000 to the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity: one part to help with Habitat’s disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts in Texas and Florida (United States), and another part for the Home Builders Blitz. Tarkett teams participated in the Home Builders Blitz initiative that enlists help from thousands of professional home builders who help families to repair and renovate their homes.