Results

Result #1

• Drafted circular design guidelines for four floor-covering families: circular textiles/carpets, vinyl flooring, laminate flooring, and bioflooring.

• The guidelines address material selection and formulation constraints, manufacturing implications, and practical enablers such as:

  • Tagging/identification needs to support end-of-life sorting and routing.

  • Installation approaches that improve circularity by enabling cleaner uplift/removal and reducing contamination.

• Prototyping and feasibility demonstrations were achieved through pilot work on:

  • Laminate (HDF) with recycled fibres,

  • Monomaterial PA6 carpet concepts,

  • Vinyl flooring with defined recycled-PVC substitution limits and opportunities,

  • Bioflooring concepts assessed against multiple waste-stream inputs.

Result #2

• Developed ePRODIS, a modular, web-based platform that provides product information to all relevant stakeholders (e.g., manufacturers, installers, recyclers, and consumers).

• Scientific/technical relevance:

  • Supports systematic access to data that affects end-of-life (EoL) handling, sorting, recycling route selection, and maintenance/repair decisions.

  • Extends the existing PRODIS concept (initially for carpets) to other flooring types and includes additional data fields, such as:

    • Recycled content

    • Maintenance information

    • Other product-relevant attributes that influence circular performance

  • Designed so that a physical tag linked to the platform can enable more accurate sorting and downstream processing decisions.

  • Positioned as an enabling tool for compliance with the upcoming Digital Product Passport requirements.

Result #3

• Produced an overview of current and future input waste streams relevant to floor coverings, together with an overview of existing recycling technologies.

• Mapped the broader operational environment and material flows, resulting in a roadmap.

• Investigated key system parameters influencing feasibility and scale-up:

  • Waste volumes, collection, and logistics,

  • Recycling options and constraints,

  • Standardisation and certification activities,

  • Customer engagement mapping (to support uptake and circular service models).

Result #4

Pilot 1 – Material and product feasibility across flooring types

• Laminate (HDF): demonstrated feasibility of 100% recycled wood fibres in HDF.

• Carpets / textiles (PA6): demonstrated fusion bonding of piles + powder scattering as a viable route to produce “monomaterial” PA6 carpets with ~85% PA6 content.

• Vinyl flooring:

  • Cushion vinyl (plastisol): up to ~10 wt% rPVC could be used without impairing technical performance.

  • LVT (extrusion): demonstrated that 100% of virgin PVC can be replaced by recycled PVC (rPVC).

• Bioflooring: assessed multiple waste stream inputs, showing potential for using secondary feedstocks.

Pilot 2 – Identification and sorting line for flooring waste

• Built an identification and sorting line to recognise flooring waste using:

  • NIR spectroscopy, plus RFID and QR code reading.

• Demonstrated automated separation via vacuum grippers, proving the feasibility of these technologies for flooring waste sorting.

Pilot 3 – PolySep solvent-based delamination (limitations identified)

• Found that in its current design PolySep was not suited for carpets or vinyl flooring:

  • Shredded carpet’s fluffy morphology blocked the line (process operability limitation).

  • PVC/PET vinyl constituents could not be completely separated (separation performance limitation).

Pilot 4 – Steam-explosion recycling of end-of-life laminate

• Demonstrated a pilot line converting EoL laminate into regained wood fibres via steam explosion.

• Achieved >90% efficiencies and >1 ton/hour output.

• The line is being upscaled by Unilin (referred to as Osiris technology) to industrial scale (~10 ton/hour).

Pilot 5 – Mechanical recycling routes for vinyl flooring and cross-product loops

• Demonstrated that LVT and cushion vinyl can be mechanically recycled.

• After micronisation, rPVC can be reintroduced into flooring manufacturing.

• Industrial-scale demonstrations:

  • Cushion vinyl with 5 wt% rPVC,

  • LVT with 100% rPVC.

• Established cross-product synergies:

  • rPVC from window profiles can be incorporated into LVT.

  • 5–10 wt% rPVC from LVT can be incorporated into window profiles (or thermal reinforcement of window profiles).

Pilot 6 – Full circularity demonstration for a monomaterial PA6 carpet (Econyl loop)

• Produced a broadloom carpet (~85% PA6) using recycled PA6 (Econyl).

• Installation trials showed a tackifier can enable clean uplifting.

• Demonstrated the use phase and then chemical recycling, reconverting the material into new Econyl.

• Demonstrated debonding/separation layer concepts:

  • PO hotmelt separation layer triggered by heating (broadloom + tile).

  • Solvent-triggered separation layer demonstrated for carpet tiles.

Result #5

• Performed integrated assessment across flooring types and technology options:

  • Life Cycle Assessment (LCA),

  • Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA),

  • Social LCA (s-LCA),

  • Scenario analyses,

  • Circularity assessments.

• Results: assessments showed the benefit of recycling flooring compared to alternative end-of-life pathways.

• “Beyond state-of-the-art” assessment element:

  • Developed an “environmental learning curve” approach to estimate how LCA performance evolves with industrial-scale uptake.

Result #6

• Developed a roadmap based on mapping of material flows and the socio-economic/operational context.

• The roadmap served as an input to start the development of circular business models.

• Developed a the Systemic Transition Support Tool, a dedicated tool developed to translate the project’s circularity guidelines into a practical, value-chain-wide resource for the flooring sector. The STS tool presents the guidelines in a structured and actionable format to all key actors (from manufacturers and installers to collectors, recyclers, and sector organisations), supporting the implementation of circular economy practices across the entire flooring value chain. Importantly, it is designed to be embedded within sector associations’ service portfolios, ensuring continuity of support and long-term uptake of circular approaches beyond the project’s lifetime.