Over 30 manufacturers, wholesalers, interior designers and waste processors will work together to make the floor covering chain at least 50 percent circular by 2030. A working system for collection and circular processing must be operational by 2026 at the latest. The application for the ‘Chain breakthrough project for circular floor coverings’ was approved at the end of April 2024. The chain management and project management are in the hands of Partners for Innovation and KplusV.

At the moment, mainly fossil raw materials are used for floor coverings. Only a small part is recycled at the end of its lifespan. The lack of a good collection and processing system is one of the obstacles. In order to work in a more circular way, the entire chain must work together on solutions.

The aim of this chain breakthrough project is to make the floor covering chain 50 percent circular by 2030. This means that by then the sector will use at least 50 percent recycled or biobased raw materials and collect and process at least half of the discarded products in a circular manner. In addition, the parties want to extend the lifespan of floor coverings through better maintenance protocols and reuse.

Well-functioning system

A well-functioning system must be operational by 2026 at the latest for the collection and circular processing of the most important floor types of carpet, laminate and vinyl. A plan is being made for the necessary investments in sufficient processing capacity for each floor type. In addition, the sector wants to set up a producer organisation in 2025 for the financing and structural cooperation for the circular collection and processing of the three floor types. In order to design their products in a circular way, the participants are working in a European context on ‘design for recycling’ and ‘ecodesign’ guidelines and the introduction of a product passport. ​

Each floor type has its own strategy and timeline

This chain breakthrough project is a follow-up to the initiative that frontrunners and industry organisations took in 2022 to accelerate the transition to circular floor coverings with a Moonshot project. This exploration has shown that it is desirable to develop a separate strategy and timeline for the three important product groups of carpet, laminate and vinyl. Furthermore, it is essential to have a good processing facility operational before large-scale collection is started. After the parties had set out their ambitions at the end of last year, they submitted an application for a chain breakthrough project to the Versnellingshuis at the beginning of this year. This application has now been approved and granted.

Chain directorPartners for Innovation and KplusV are responsible for the project management. They organize working groups for the different floor types and keep all stakeholders informed of the progress, share knowledge and experiences and report annually on the progress.

Project participants

More than 30 companies and organizations from the entire chain are already working on this project, including:

• Producers, importers and wholesalers: Modint/VNTL, Beaulieu, Best Wool Carpets, Condor Group, Cotap, Cunera, Donkersloot, Edel Carpets. Forbo Flooring Systems, Gerflor, Interface, Interfloor, mFlor, PPC, Schmits Chemical Solutions, Tarkett and Unilin/IVC Group
• Retail: INretail, Carpetright, Homefashion Group and Intergamma
• Installers and maintenance companies: BVP Branchevereniging Projectinrichting, Maasdam and Progenta
• Collectors and recyclers: Aquafil, CuRe Technology, IFG Exelto, Midwaste, Renewi, Rondo, Van Dijk Containers and Verhoek.

More information

Het Versnellingshuis is a collaboration between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, VNO-NCW/MKB-Nederland, Het Groene Brein and MVO Nederland. Together they open up a large network of other parties and counters, including RVO.nl.

For more information, contact Siem Haffmans or Jos Vlugter.

With this project we contribute to the following Sustainable Development Goals of the UN: