Tarkett has expanded its ReStart Recycling and Reclamation Program by adding consolidators to the process. Erv Parent, NRF Distributors, Inc. and Johnson Wholesale Floors with Brumark have joined the program as the first consolidators, helping to make it easier for contractors and other members of a design/build team to return installation waste material, ultimately lessening the overall impact on the environment.
Tarkett's ReStart Recycling and Reclamation Program allows commercial flooring job scrap (rubber, vinyl and linoleum tile and sheet, wall base, floor finishing accessories and tread-cuttings) to be collected and returned to Tarkett to be repurposed or recycled. Since 2003, the program has recycled more than 91 million pounds of material in North America.
For some, participating in the ReStart program was challenging as the costs of returning material to a Tarkett plant from a job site could be high. The company addressed this challenge by reaching out to distributors to act as consolidators. With Tarkett trucks routinely delivering product to distributors, the company realized the trucks could be used to transport the product slated for recycling on their return trip. Erv Parent and NRF Distributors, Inc. are the first distributors to take advantage of this new distribution/consolidation model.
The Erv Parent Group, based in Canada, is dedicated to using Tarkett's ReStart program to ensure that scrap material from job sites will be returned to Tarkett plants for recycling. Acting as a consolidator in their area, Erv Parent receives the contractor's job site waste and ensures the collected material is transferred to the appropriate recycling facility for processing. Kim Anderson, Floor Covering Consultant for Erv Parent, has led the recycling effort for the distributor and continues to work with Tarkett to reclaim material for recycling. Anderson said, "This initiative will save thousands of pounds of construction waste for recycling, that would otherwise go to the landfill. I'm working with our clients to help them fully understand that Tarkett's ReStart program offers a clear, viable and useable alternative without cost to the end-user. We are presently working on a local Health Center Redevelopment project to return and re-purpose approximately 2,000 pounds of material. This is but one of numerous Restart initiatives to come."
With a strong commitment to environmental responsibility, NRF Distributors, Inc., located in Augusta, Maine, became a ReStart partner in January 2013. The company works to connect with the leading flooring contractors in New England and facilitates the pick-up of installation waste at job sites. NRF then returns the scrap to Tarkett, who collects materials from the company once a month. The pick-up is coordinated with other material deliveries to NRF to ensure that not only is installation waste material not headed to landfill, but also the overall footprint is reduced. Through this process, NRF and Tarkett are able to reduce the cost and effort for the contractor.
Roxane Spears, Solutions Development Consultant for Johnsonite, the commercial arm of Tarkett, said, "NRF understands that recycling and reclamation programs and an overall push toward environmental responsibility is becoming increasingly more important in the building industry. To get a program like this working you have to hit all facets of the circle – from the spec group to the flooring contractors, building owners and distributors. Everybody plays a role but you need to connect all the parts to ensure success."
Working with Atlanta-based Johnson Wholesale Floors, Inc., a flooring distribution company serving dealers in the southeast, Brumark, a total flooring solutions specialist also in Atlanta, connects customers in the tradeshow and event industry with innovative new products. The company purchases Tarkett's FiberFloor from Johnson Wholesale and, because the sizing specifications for tradeshow exhibits are very specific, always ends up with leftover flooring. Rather than send the flooring scrap to landfill, Brumark, along with Johnson Wholesale, has joined the ReStart program to return waste to the company for recycling. More than six pallets of scrap have been returned to Tarkett since Brumark joined the program in March 2013, with more on the way.
"We define sustainability as anything that can be reused from one application to another. Our products don't break down until the time that we cut it up and send it to the recycling centers. We want to keep the products out of landfills as much as possible," said Dave Walens, President of Brumark.
