Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CISUFLO (CIrcular SUstainable FLOor coverings)
Reporting period: 2021-06-01 to 2022-11-30
Flooring is a key element in the design of all of the public buildings and spaces we use on a day-to-day basis. It often needs to be functional and practical but, on many occasions, it is also an important part of the overall decorative appeal, making them great places to visit or work. Installed correctly there are many products that can offer that combination of properties across a significant lifespan.
The CISUFLO project, Circular Sustainable Floorings, aims to develop innovative circular products for the flooring industry, prompting, in the long run, the adoption of a circular economy model throughout the entire value chain and beyond. The work plan foresees the implementation of six pilots focusing on manufacturing, sorting, separation and recycling of floor coverings and on the scaling up of novel technologies. The pilots cover three different value chains and sectors, namely carpets, resilient flooring products and wood laminates.
CISUFLO will establish new synergies with other linked sectors and provide policymakers with useful inputs for standardization and legislation.
CISUFLO’s overall goal is to minimize the environmental impact of the EU flooring sector, by setting up a systemic framework for circular and sustainable floor coverings taking into account both technical feasibility and socio-economic factors.
More specifically, within CISUFLO we work on the following objectives:
*Develop concepts, guidelines and prototypes for circular floor coverings, focussing on carpet, wood laminate and resilient flooring
*Develop a product information system (so-called ePRODIS), making it available to all stakeholders via an app
*Value chain assessment and raw material streams analysis
*Implementation and evaluation of the six pilots
*Sustainability assessment of the new technologies, materials and products
*Development of circular business models and a transformation plan to circularity
*Cross-sectorial cooperation from the flooring sector with other related sectors and projects
*Raising awareness of CISUFLO results within the flooring sector and beyond
The CISUFLO project, Circular Sustainable Floorings, aims to develop innovative circular products for the flooring industry, prompting, in the long run, the adoption of a circular economy model throughout the entire value chain and beyond. The work plan foresees the implementation of six pilots focusing on manufacturing, sorting, separation and recycling of floor coverings and on the scaling up of novel technologies. The pilots cover three different value chains and sectors, namely carpets, resilient flooring products and wood laminates.
CISUFLO will establish new synergies with other linked sectors and provide policymakers with useful inputs for standardization and legislation.
CISUFLO’s overall goal is to minimize the environmental impact of the EU flooring sector, by setting up a systemic framework for circular and sustainable floor coverings taking into account both technical feasibility and socio-economic factors.
More specifically, within CISUFLO we work on the following objectives:
*Develop concepts, guidelines and prototypes for circular floor coverings, focussing on carpet, wood laminate and resilient flooring
*Develop a product information system (so-called ePRODIS), making it available to all stakeholders via an app
*Value chain assessment and raw material streams analysis
*Implementation and evaluation of the six pilots
*Sustainability assessment of the new technologies, materials and products
*Development of circular business models and a transformation plan to circularity
*Cross-sectorial cooperation from the flooring sector with other related sectors and projects
*Raising awareness of CISUFLO results within the flooring sector and beyond
So far, within CSIFULO we mainly focused on the following items:
*different design for circularity-concepts have been drafted for CTextile (Circular Textiles), CVinyl (Circular Vinyl flooring), CLaminate (Circular Laminate) and bioflooring. Material aspects have been investigated, manufacturing aspects, as well as tagging and installation methods. Desk top research is ongoing to make an overview of current and future input waste streams and existing recycling technologies.
*the development of ePRODIS, a web-based tool for offering product info to all stakeholders involved (eg manufacturers, installers, recyclers, consumers), is ongoing. The main software modules, the type of database used, safety protocols and user rights have been set. The system architecture and the human interface design are defined. A first test version is available.
*from the side of the wider socio-economic context, we have been mapping of the operational environment and material flows, resulting in a preliminary roadmap. This roadmap serves as input to start the development of the circular business models. Collection, options for (open loop) recycling and logistics were also investigated. Customer engagement is also mapped.
*from the side of the pilots developments, first of all the requirements for each pilot have been listed. Next, the implementation of some of the pilots has been started. This will be performed stepwise in the project. First experiments are conducted to use recycled PVC into cushion vinyl, luxury vinyl tiles and window profiles. Different types of waste streams have been tested during the production of bioflooring. Fusion bonding of carpets has been assessed on larger scale. For the recycling of resilient flooring, the PolySep equipment has been build. Also a prototype sorting and identification line for flooring waste has been constructed. Most advanced is the laminate recycling line, which is advancing towards semi-industrial scale.
CISUFLO has a work package dedicated to the industrial uptake. Within this WP, the available waste volumes are being mapped, as well as existing collection schemes and related standardisation and certification activities. First steps are undertaken to develop the Transition Support tool, a tool guiding people to implementation of a circular economy approach. To ensure uptake after the project’s end, actors from the sector are kept up to date on the progress and a focus group has been set up, to increase interaction and collect relevant input for further developments.
Finally, we also are performing the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Techno-economic assessments (TEA) and Social LCA (S-LCA). The goal and scope of these studies are being defined. It contains the descriptions of the products, value chains, reference benchmarks, methodology, and their system boundaries as well as the important methodological choices necessary for the alignment of the analysis results and representativeness for the sector.
*different design for circularity-concepts have been drafted for CTextile (Circular Textiles), CVinyl (Circular Vinyl flooring), CLaminate (Circular Laminate) and bioflooring. Material aspects have been investigated, manufacturing aspects, as well as tagging and installation methods. Desk top research is ongoing to make an overview of current and future input waste streams and existing recycling technologies.
*the development of ePRODIS, a web-based tool for offering product info to all stakeholders involved (eg manufacturers, installers, recyclers, consumers), is ongoing. The main software modules, the type of database used, safety protocols and user rights have been set. The system architecture and the human interface design are defined. A first test version is available.
*from the side of the wider socio-economic context, we have been mapping of the operational environment and material flows, resulting in a preliminary roadmap. This roadmap serves as input to start the development of the circular business models. Collection, options for (open loop) recycling and logistics were also investigated. Customer engagement is also mapped.
*from the side of the pilots developments, first of all the requirements for each pilot have been listed. Next, the implementation of some of the pilots has been started. This will be performed stepwise in the project. First experiments are conducted to use recycled PVC into cushion vinyl, luxury vinyl tiles and window profiles. Different types of waste streams have been tested during the production of bioflooring. Fusion bonding of carpets has been assessed on larger scale. For the recycling of resilient flooring, the PolySep equipment has been build. Also a prototype sorting and identification line for flooring waste has been constructed. Most advanced is the laminate recycling line, which is advancing towards semi-industrial scale.
CISUFLO has a work package dedicated to the industrial uptake. Within this WP, the available waste volumes are being mapped, as well as existing collection schemes and related standardisation and certification activities. First steps are undertaken to develop the Transition Support tool, a tool guiding people to implementation of a circular economy approach. To ensure uptake after the project’s end, actors from the sector are kept up to date on the progress and a focus group has been set up, to increase interaction and collect relevant input for further developments.
Finally, we also are performing the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Techno-economic assessments (TEA) and Social LCA (S-LCA). The goal and scope of these studies are being defined. It contains the descriptions of the products, value chains, reference benchmarks, methodology, and their system boundaries as well as the important methodological choices necessary for the alignment of the analysis results and representativeness for the sector.
CISUFLO provides systemic innovations at the technical, information and socio-economic level and performs 6 pilots to demonstrate their feasibility and value (future flooring, sorting, separation, laminate, vinyl and textile flooring recycling). The basis for circularity is realising circular material streams. Therefore, we focus on the main flooring material streams: wood (laminates), PA (carpets) and PVC (resilient).
We aim to realise circularisation via innovations that deliver value along the chain: (i) manufacturing flooring that is easier to remove, replace, repair & recycle, as a competitive advantage to the manufacturer, and beneficial to several players along the value chain; (ii) integrated product information system enables sorting, but also offers extra functionalities for installation, cleaning and maintenance, and sustainability info for customer at purchasing phase.
We aim to realise circularisation via innovations that deliver value along the chain: (i) manufacturing flooring that is easier to remove, replace, repair & recycle, as a competitive advantage to the manufacturer, and beneficial to several players along the value chain; (ii) integrated product information system enables sorting, but also offers extra functionalities for installation, cleaning and maintenance, and sustainability info for customer at purchasing phase.