Hoteliers have more options than ever to make their flooring sustainable. From carpets to luxury vinyl tiles to hardwood, here are some ways hotel floors are getting greener.
1. Recyclable Carpets
Earlier this year, German carpeting company Object Carpet and its American partner, Summit International Flooring, launched the NEOO carpet, made from a single type of polyester so that it can, in theory, be recycled endlessly. The company’s Mediterraneo Indoor-Outdoor Collection is designed to stand up to sunlight, moisture and heavy foot traffic both indoor and out. The collection, Object Carpet owner Daniel Butz said, was made with recycled yarns.
2. Reusable Rubber
In June, Ecore International launched the TRUcircularity program, through which the company takes back its rubber flooring at the end of the product’s lifecycle. “Rubber is the magical material that provides superior performance and durability, and those same qualities make it desirable as a raw material repeatedly,” said Bo Barber, chief growth and innovation officer at Ecore. The company’s Heritage Motivate line of vinyl tile, for example, is made of 53 percent postconsumer recycled content and was engineered with a force reduction of 10.6 percent and an energy restitution of 66.7 percent.
3. Maximizing Lumber
Bjelin North America’s line of hardened wood floors use the Woodura technology from the company’s sister business Välinge Innovation. “This groundbreaking process uses heat and pressure to fuse a thin sheet of wood to a wood-fiber-based core with a wood-powder mixture,” said Zach Adams, general manager, Bjelin North America. The mixture then fills the natural openings of the wood layer for increased durability. “This process enables the wood powder to be recycled into production when it would otherwise be wasted,” Adams explained. “Additionally, by using thin sheets instead of solid wood, you can produce 10 [times] more flooring from the same amount of lumber used in traditional wood flooring.”
4. Benefits Of Cork
Summit International Flooring partnered with Portuguese flooring company Granorte for cork wood floors. Summit President David Numark noted that while a tree may take decades to reach maturity, the bark from a cork tree grows back in less than 10 years. “It grows back and it’s harvested without damaging the tree,” he said. VP of Sales Marc Becker noted that cork is a biodegradable wood. “Even if it is put in a landfill, it’ll disappear over time.”