The issue
Conventional industrial processes are linear. Resources are taken from the earth, processed, made into products, used by consumers and thrown away. Much of the waste ends up in landfill sites where it either accumulates or decays. Methane - a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide - is emitted during the decay process.

In Europe alone, it is estimated that 30 million m2 of end-of-life carpet tiles still end up in landfills each year. This is a costly waste of valuable resources which has unacceptable environmental impacts.

Our approach
We look for ways to reuse waste materials in our design and manufacturing processes, reducing our reliance on virgin resources. We aim to create a cyclical process that returns materials either to the Earth (natural cycle) or back into our factories to create new carpet (industrial cycle). We call this ‘closing the loop'.

When customers replace their carpets, we offer a service to collect their old carpet for reuse or recycling. We are also researching new products that are specifically designed to be easier to recycle.
Both the yarn (nylon) and backing compounds used in our carpets are derived from oil. We look for alternatives that will help reduce our oil dependence, such as using waste from other industries.

Global progress
• 40% of our products now made from recycled or bio-based content, up from just 0.5% in 1996.
• 12,500 tonnes of carpet and carpet scraps diverted from landfill in 2010.

Putting our approach into practice in Europe
Our factories in the UK and the Netherlands are developing innovative ways to reuse and recycle old carpets from our customers, and increase the recycled content of our new carpets. For example, we:

• Offer a collection service for any carpet that is being replaced by an Interface product. Our ReEntry reuse and recycling programme has enabled us to divert over 103,434 tonnes of carpet from landfill globally since 1995.
• Reuse waste limestone from other industries to make the filler in carpet backing. Recycled limestone dust from quarries now constitutes 67% of our Graphlex® backing at Scherpenzeel, and is also used at Shelf. Recycled content makes up 52% of carpet backing for our European products and reduces our dependence on virgin limestone and the environmental impacts associated with its extraction.
• Use yarn with up to 70% recycled content (depending on the suppliers and the colours we use). We are working with suppliers to sort waste yarn by colour, enabling them to increase the recycled content of the yarn.
• Achieved a technological breakthrough for the European carpet industry recently with our new ReEntry 2.0 process. ReEntry 2.0 uses a highly efficient technology that separates yarn and backing from used carpet tiles, so that they can be recycled into yarn and backing for new carpet tiles. The process ensures that each component of the carpet tile retains its material value, allowing it to be re-used as new raw material for new products. This is especially important for recycling nylon yarn – the most carbon intensive part of carpet.