1st Circular Flooring Newsletter

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Welcome to the first Circular Flooring Newsletter! In this issue, we would like to share our progress within the project towards a circular recycling process for post-consumer PVC flooring. It includes an overview about the project and the Plastics Circularity Multiplier Initiative, a summary of the first technical workshop, important events and a review what a Life Cycle Assessment is and why we need it.

Circular Flooring – the project

Circular Flooring aims to establish a circular recycling process for plasticized PVC from post-consumer waste flooring. For PVC products, only recycling rates of 20% have been achieved so far, while a large percentage of the PVC waste is still landfilled or incinerated. In order to avoid the loss of valuable resources, increased CO₂ emissions and other environmental burdens of waste disposal, it is necessary to establish closed recycling loops for various material streams, as for example PVC floor coverings. Therefore, the Circular Flooring consortium is further developing the CreaSolv^® Recycling Process to separate the PVC-resin of post-consumer floor coverings from legacy plasticisers (phthalic acid esters) that are not conform to the EU REACH-Directive. Read more

What is a Life-Cycle-Assessment?

During a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), environmental impacts are evaluated throughout the entire life cycle of a product (production, use and disposal or recovery). Environmental impacts refer to all relevant extractions from the environment (e.g., ores and crude oil), as well as emissions into the environment. The LCA includes the upstream and downstream processes associated with production and with the product’s End of Life (recycling, reuse or waste treatment). Within Circular Flooring, a LCA will be conducted to assess the environmental impact of the recycling process and to compare the circular flooring to conventional PVC flooring. Read more

First technical workshop at VINNOLIT

In October 2019, project partner Vinnolit organized the first technical Workshop of Circular Flooring. The aim of this meeting was to show the present project partners how PVC is processed and what properties recycled PVC should have to be manufactured in the machinery. Thus, formulations and possible applications of recycled PVC were intensely discussed. Read more

Plastics Circularity Multiplier Initiative

Twenty-one innovation projects joined forces to boost European Union efforts towards a circular economy for plastics. Therewith, this group unites over 200 partners and over 150 million Euros investment in European research. Circular Flooring joined the group in September 2019, shortly after its project start.

The ‘Plastics Circularity Multiplier’ group will communicate to policy makers, the public and industry on a range of EU-funded innovations – innovations that aim to bring plastic materials into the circular economy of the future and create new business opportunities and jobs in Europe. Read more

Next steps

As most of you, we are currently working from home and not allowed to access the labs as a result of COVID-19 countermeasures. We hope to be back as soon as possible to continue the lab work. Meanwhile, we are preparing our next General Assembly to be held on 16th and 17th of June 2020. Stay tuned!

Relevant events

Circular Flooring on social media