Key representatives from Tarkett recently participated in the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Products Symposium and Innovation Celebration at The Conrad in New York City.

On the first day of the symposium, Tarkett participated in a presentation called Closing the Loop: An examination of the positive impact of using C2C principles in business. The next day, Tarkett participated in a much-anticipated panel discussion on PVC, an affordable and commonly used building material currently on the banned list in the Cradle to Cradle certification.

Titled, “Let’s Talk About PVC,” the session was moderated by Stacy Glass, vice president of Built Environment with the C2C Products Innovation Institute and included viewpoints from leading industry professionals.

The panel discussed how PVC has evolved, opened a debate on the material’s future in built environment applications and considered the improvements being made to address long standing environmental and human concerns. Although PVC has been highly criticized for its production, use and post-use handling during the past 30 years, the panel reviewed how PVC manufactured and recycled in a responsible manner is preferred to that coming from unknown sources and manufactured without proper supply chain controls in place.

“Tarkett’s approach to PVC flooring applies C2C principles and aligns with the concept of closed-loop circular design,” said panelist Anne-Christine Ayed, executive vice president, research, innovation and environment at Tarkett. “Because we define good materials as safe for people and the environment, we work with our supply chain to create products with PVC resin made responsibly by suppliers who follow manufacturing best practices. We use it to make products with extremely low VOC emissions, using phthalate-free plasticizers and safe stabilizers, and finally, we recycle our products through the Tarkett ReStart recycling and reclamation program. This eliminates the concerns that stigmatize PVC products and we are proud of the progress that has been made.”

For more information, visit tarkett.com.