Armstrong World Industries named The Kroger Co. as its 2013 Flooring Recycler of the Year.
The Armstrong award recognizes organizations that made significant environmental contributions by recycling VCT materials during demolition projects; resulting in waste reduction in landfill materials, transportation, and energy. Kroger received this award because of their commitment to waste reduction as demonstrated by their efforts to reclaim vinyl composition tile (VCT) from multiple stores throughout the United States in 2013. The Armstrong Recycler of the Year Award was presented to Kroger during a recent ceremony at their corporate facility in Cincinnati.
Kroger began recycling vinyl composition tile flooring, removed during renovation of their grocery stores, nationwide in 2013 through the Armstrong® Reclamation Program for VCT. To date, they have reclaimed over 1 million pounds of VCT material. Since 2007, Armstrong has reclaimed and recycled over 10 million pounds of post-consumer VCT worldwide, representing 5,000 tons of diverted landfill material.
"Kroger is committed to achieving "Zero Waste" facilities and we are continually exploring new ways to achieve this" said Suzanne Lindsay-Walker, director of sustainability at Kroger. "Our facility engineering teams across our family of stores were instrumental in working with Armstrong to implement the VCT recycling program".
The Armstrong Reclamation Program for VCT reclaims Armstrong VCT and qualifying competitive VCT flooring products from demolition and renovation projects. Under the program, VCT flooring is recycled in a closed-loop, post-consumer stream with reclaimed material incorporated into new flooring products. Armstrong has regional recycling facilities in California, Illinois, and Mississippi.
