INTERFACE, major global modular flooring producer and a world leader in sustainable flooring, has developed a new carpet tile backing with “the lowest carbon footprint ever”. The new CQuestBio backing contains no petrochemicals (virgin oil) and features the highest level of bio-based content at the start of its lifecycle, coupled with 100% recyclability at the end of service.
Interface products are manufactured in the Netherlands and are distributed and installed in South Africa by KBAC Flooring.
Ton van Kerken, Senior Vice President of the Interface Supply Chain based at the company’s European headquarters at Scherpenzeel, said the process to create the CQuestBio backing involved adding new non-bitumen, bio-based materials and more recycled fillers to carpet tile production.
“The new material content – measured on a stand-alone basis – is net carbon negative and reduces the total product’s carbon footprint. This revolutionary backing is another important step towards helping customers achieve their own sustainability goals. Interface is already planning a more advanced backing – with even more carbon-negative materials – for 2021 as we work towards becoming a carbon negative enterprise by 2040.”
Van Kerken said Interface had, since 1996, reduced the embodied carbon footprint of its carpet tile product by 74%. “This was achieved by modified design and the use of recycled materials, de-materialisation and improved manufacturing efficiencies. Then, through our Carbon Neutral Floors programme, Interface compensated for unavoidable carbon offsets from renewable energy, fuel switching and reforestation projects,” he added.
In 2003, Interface started offering carbon neutral flooring by offsetting the full life cycle of greenhouse gas emissions for carpet tiles and, in 2018, included luxury vinyl tile production and a year later, also rubber flooring. The Carbon Neutral Floors programme forms parts of Interface’s Climate Take Back initiative which commits itself to production that reverses global warming.
Interface has now sold more than 379 million square metres of carbon neutral flooring globally, and has reduced over 5.3 million metric tons of carbon emissions
