Including electricity, gas, fuel oil, biofuel and other sources of fuel.
Over the past four years, Tarkett has decreased its overall energy consumption through production efficiency and use of self-generated sources of energy such as wood sawdust generated from parquet manufacturing process.

US Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Tarkett’s production facility in Houston, Texas with an energy saver award in 2008 for achieving total energy savings of more than 7.5%. Tarkett worked with the DOE to assess key industrial process systems and identify cost and energy-saving opportunities.

At its industrial site in Backa Palanka, Serbia, Tarkett has invested in a biomass boiler that converts wood waste from the wood production plant to generate over 50% of the thermal energy requirements for both the wood and vinyl manufacturing facilities. Waste sawdust as fuel is a good reusable source and helps to reduce the need for natural energy resources such as gas as well as eliminate waste disposal into landfill sites.

Tarkett has worked actively to reduce discharges to air of volatile organic compounds during its production processes through product development and new, more efficient technologies for air cleaning processes. For example, adjusting temperature profiles during curing of vinyl floorings has positively contributed to this reduction.

The figures include waste sent for recycling, to landfill and hazardous waste. Despite an upward trend between 2005-2007 caused in part by a chance to raw materials to prepare for REACH compliance, Tarkett has reversed the trend in 2008 and has reduced its waste.

Water is a resource used in varying degrees according to our different product manufacturing processes, for example more intensively for laminate and linoleum compared to rubber or vinyl production. Overall Tarkett has succeeded in reducing its water consumption significantly over the past three years. The biggest improvement comes from the linoleum plant in Narni, Italy, where Tarkett has introduced a closed loop system for the majority of its cooling systems, to reduce consumption from natural water resources.

Recycled material is the amount of waste from the production process that goes back into production. In Clervaux, Luxembourg, and Ronneby, Sweden, this includes also waste from external production and post consumer waste.

Over the past four years Tarkett has increased the absolute amount of recycled material from 55 to 68,000 tons (includes re-used materials from own production, post-installation waste, post consumer waste and post production from own  and competitors production).

Since 2003 Tarkett’s Azrock production facility in Houston, Texas has been increasing its recycling – from samples sent out to architects to the collection of installation waste from contractors – in order to reduce waste in landfills. It’s enabled Tarkett to incorporate more recycled material as raw material in its manufacturing - reprocessing around 98% of its product. For the 2% that can’t be recycled, Tarkett has worked with a local company to produce it with ground-down tiles that are certified for use in construction projects such as road bases and embankment filling. That means that 100% of production waste is now reused – saving over 450 tonnes from landfills.

The vinyl industry is managing the after-life of installed flooring – taking responsibility for the entire life-cycle of the product from sustainable production through to recycling and re-use. Tarkett has developed a system for the recycling of post installation waste in Sweden in 1997. The system has since become a benchmark standard for all vinyl flooring in Sweden. Today, the model is being used to collect Tarkett flooring in all Nordic countries, Germany and also for special projects in Holland, UK, Italy, France and the Baltics. To further reduce the impact on the environment, Tarkett provides a ‘green return’ collection service through the same logistics companies, who deliver its products to major construction and renovation sites. Thus in 2008 140,000m2 were recycled saving 411 tons from landfills.