Back to the floor
our take-back & recycling program
The reality
about recycling and circularity
We are fully focused on closing the loop and making sure that responsibility for our products doesn’t stop the moment the material leaves the factory. Therefore, we developed our Back to the Floor program. It includes reusing factory waste, taking back installation waste, and even taking back old floors. With our recycling program, we bring down CO2 levels in both the raw material extraction and at the end of life, as these two phases have the biggest impact on the full chain.
Recycling programs can be costly since materials have to be collected, transported, sorted, and processed for reuse. We aim to do this openly and efficiently so that old flooring doesn't end up in landfills. But because rules vary between countries, no one solution fits everyone. That's why we must work together to determine and use the best approaches.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
We will guide you in every step
Based on the size of the project, we need to define the procedure. In short, there are two options:
Small projects <1000 m2
• Request the big bags or containers at our customer service department and indicate when they are ready to be picked up
Large projects >1000 m2
• We organise a project meeting to discuss the project and the costs involved
• We arrange an inspection of the floors at the job site
• At the start of the removal, we explain about the stripping and sorting of the material
• We agree on logistics to ensure efficiency
The take-back process
Step 1: contact customer service
Step 2: receive a container or big bag
Step 3: avoid contamination of the material
Step 4: full container will be picked up
WHAT TO KEEP IN MIND
when removing flooring material from a job site
When removing and collecting material from a job site, please note the following:
• All types of flooring should be kept separate since they have different recycling processes.
• Limited glue residues are permitted, but no subfloor residues or other trash may be added to the big bag, to avoid contamination.
• The flooring material must have been installed after 2005. Before that, ingredients might have been used in the production of the flooring that are no longer usable. We do not want to reuse these materials in our floors.
• Only Forbo Flooring material may be offered. Material from other suppliers cannot be recycled since we do not know what the exact ingredients are.
• Keep the material dry.
WHAT DO WE DO WITH IT?
Curious to see what we do with the material after it has been collected? Click on the hotspots in the image to explore our different recycling processess and see the steps involved for each product group.
Results
-
250 t
vinyl and marmoleum material taken back and recycled in 2023
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77 %
CO2 reduction realised since 2004 (in 2023)
-
7 %
reduction in 2023 versus base year 2019 (in kg CO2/m2)
Take-back project Charleroi
Our Back to the Floor program in action
Forbo Flooring Systems recently completed a major flooring project at the Grand Hôpital de Charleroi (GHDC), the largest newly built hospital in Wallonia, Belgium. Approximately 85,000 m2 of vinyl flooring and nearly 13,000 m2 of textile flooring were installed.
Despite careful calculation and minimal waste during installation, there's inevitably leftover offcut waste. Thankfully, through our 'Back to the Floor' take-back program, we collected, recycled, and reused these offcuts in our vinyl production process.
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Want to know more?
Do you want to know more about our take-back program, Back to the Floor, and how you can get involved? Contact your local sales representative via the link below.
Contact us