People sometimes ask "Are Carpets Sustainable?" and as carpet manufacturers, we believe that if they are made in the right way with the right materials carpets are sustainable.

At danfloor we are very aware of our commitment to the environment and strive to minimise our impact on the world around us by operating in a sustainable way.

Our manufacturing methods have several processes in place that have a positive environmental message and the yarns we source include recycled content. We are continually investigating ways to support a fully circular life cycle for our products by analysing our procedures and products in more detail and highlighting areas for improvement.

The carpet certification we’ve received, including Environmental Product Declarations (EPD’s), Eurofins and ISO accreditation, provides you with the peace of mind that our products, manufacturing processes and management have undergone rigorous testing and assessment to achieve the highest environmental and suitability credentials possible.

To achieve our carpet certification, we regularly evaluate the environmental impact of our activities, products and services and will act to continually improve our environmental performance via our Environmental Management System, which looks at how we use and recycle the materials and resources we work with every day.

We also consider those using our products on a day-to-day basis and ensure that the design and functionality of our products are fit for purpose and create a long-lasting therapeutic environment.

Carpet fibre is one element that determines the quality of a carpet. The fibre influences many aspects such as surface structure, colour and the feel of the carpet, as well as the functional benefits including resilience to wear, colour fastness and soil and stain resistance, which all prolong the life of the carpet and the time between replacements.

We manufacture several collections using Aquafil’ ECONYL® 100% regenerated nylon yarn nylon that performs the same as virgin nylon but has a very different story behind it. It is much more sustainable as the yarn is made from pre and post-consumer waste, including items such as abandoned fishing nets, that if left in our oceans can cause devasting effects to marine life.

Our Manufacturing Processes

As a manufacturer, it is essential that we monitor, review, and improve our processes to minimise our impact on the environment and we have introduced several improvements as a result of this process.

HEAT EXTRACTION
The ovens used to apply our specialised yarn coatings and the backings for several ranges omit extreme heat. The excess heat is extracted from the ovens and circulated back into the building to heat elements such as water.

WASTE YARN
Cones of carpet yarn are known as creels. When a creel of yarn is finished, there is often a small amount of yarn still present on the creel. All our creels are stripped of any remaining yarn, which is then recycled. One way in which we recycle this yarn is by sending it to our parent company Ulster Carpets who use it to make their AXFLET Underlay, which is made from 100% recycled content.

ENVIRONMENT
At our head office in the UK, we have replaced our fleet of company cars with electric vehicles, we have invested in LED and motion sensor lighting and ensure all the paper we use is 100% recycled. We are also moving towards a paperless environment within the sales office in an attempt to reduce our paper usage and waste. Little steps like this demonstrate how we continually strive to minimise our impact on the environment

PLASTIC TUBES
The plastic tubes which are found at the centre of our carpet rolls are made within our own backing facility. The backing facility takes their waste plastic and breaks it down into pellets, which are then melted down and re-made into our recycled carpet tubes.

THE INTRODUCTION OF EPDs
We have seen an increase in public sector projects requiring products that have Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). This is documentation that quantifiably demonstrates the environmental impacts of a product. EPDs are classed as a Type III environmental label that quantifies environmental information on the life cycle of a product to enable comparisons between products fulfilling the same function.

An EPD is generated based on data obtained through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). An LCA is performed using a peer-reviewed Product Category Rules document (PCR) in line with EN 15804 (the European Standard for the generation of EPD for construction products), ISO 14025, and other related international standards. We are proud to say that our Evolution, Economix and Equinox Collections have successfully gone through this process and all have EPD certificates.

OUR COMMITMENT
In addition to these processes and the rigorous testing and assessments undertaken to provide assurance that our products, manufacturing processes and management achieve the highest environmental credentials possible, we also look to our supply chain to source the most sustainable and environmentally responsible products.

As a manufacturer we would encourage our clients, who wish to specify more sustainable carpets, to carefully look at product specifications, associated certification, and documentation to see whether products have been certified for their sustainability. Also purchasing products that are fit for purpose is important as installing a product that is not built to last will not only be costly to replace but will possibly result in unnecessary waste.