Interface, worldwide commercial flooring company and global leader in sustainability, has announced that all carpet tile products made in its European manufacturing facilities from September 2021 will feature its CQuest™Bio backing that contains carbon negative materials. CQuestBio is the company’s new non-bitumen, bio-composite backing innovation made with bio-based materials and recycled fillers, which are net carbon negative. Customers who specify Interface carpet tiles with CQuestBio will be able to further support their own sustainability goals with even lower carbon footprint products in their spaces while achieving the same level of flooring performance.
Interface first announced the availability of its CQuestBio backings in 2020, along with the launch of the company’s first carbon negative carpet tile styles. Soon after, the manufacturer made CQuestBio standard on selected collections made in its European facilities. Interface has converted its European manufacturing solely to these next generation backings moving away from the bitumen-based Graphlex backing – replacing a more carbon intensive and more challenging material with one that is regenerative and primed for reuse and recycling.
This historic milestone in the company’s European manufacturing standardises the CQuestBio backing across the entire carpet tile portfolio, eliminating bitumen (Graphlex) and further reducing the use of virgin petrochemicals in the carpet tile manufacturing process in Europe. These changes also allow Interface to create a circular model in its European manufacturing, enabling future reuse, recycling, and repurposing into new products as part of the ReEntry programme.
Whilst all Interface carpet tile, LVT and nora® rubber flooring products are carbon neutral through the Carbon Neutral Floors™ programme, this advancement in European manufacturing further reduces the carbon footprints of Interface products across all carpet tile collections moving forward.
The World Green Building Council notes that buildings are currently responsible for 39% of global energy related carbon emissions. To decarbonise the built environment, the production of carbon neutral and carbon negative products is of paramount importance with the need for manufacturers and specifiers committing to implement these solutions at scale. Interface has significantly invested in research and development, updated manufacturing technology and processes, and reimagined its manufacturing facilities to set new product benchmarks.
“By shifting our carpet tile manufacturing in Europe to our CQuestBio backings we have made the single biggest move in our machinery, manufacturing processes and supply chain since we started making carpet tile here in the 1950s. Continuing to reduce the carbon footprint of our products is an important step in our journey toward becoming a carbon negative enterprise by 2040,” says Nigel Stansfield, President, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia (EAAA) at Interface. “For our customers, this means when you buy an Interface carpet tile you get the same performance quality and design options whilst also driving decarbonisation.”
For further information about Interface please visit its carbon negative collections or carbon neutral floors programme pages.
