Milestones
Milestones
During the project, milestones will be continuously monitored to analyse the progress of Circular Flooring. These milestones represent important steppingstones towards the project objectives.
The Circular Flooring consortium will first analyse the market for PVC to assess the necessity of effective recycling mechanisms. The CreaSolv® Recycling Process will be customized and further developed to convert legacy plasticisers into REACH-compliant plasticizers. The overall aim is to produce PVC recyclate at technological scale, which is then suitable for reuse in floor coverings. In order to identify specific quality standards, the formula will be continuously analysed together with partners from the flooring industry with respect to its performance. Alongside the process development, detailed analyses of the economic performance, as well as of the health and environmental sustainability of the project will be conducted.
The first seven milestones of Circular Flooring have been reached already:
- Large-scale pilot plant for solvent-based plastics recycling opened
- Pilot scale for the recycling of PVC flooring waste justified
- CreaSolv® Process for Circular Flooring customized
- Hydrogenation route for legacy plasticisers developed
- Possible PVC formulations developed
- Circular Flooring demonstration plant design finalized and realisable with the intended project budget
- Decision taken on high performance formula for Circular Flooring PVC
- Economic sustainability confirmed