Tarkett Celebrates Recycling, Honors Industry Leaders During Annual ReStart™ Awards

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio, Oct. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Tarkett, the worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, recently announced the winners of its ReStart^™ Award. The award is presented annually to honor the architect, designer, installer, distributor and/or end user whose project has successfully diverted the largest quantity of flooring from landfills using the company's ReStart Recycling and Reclamation Program. This year's award recipients – Walmart, Linron Company and M. Frank Higgins – were recognized during the company's second annual Sustainability Summit in Cleveland.

"ReStart allows building owners and specifiers to make environmental responsibility a practical part of the way they do business," said Diane Martel, Vice President, Environmental Planning and Strategy for Tarkett. "Often it is costly to remove waste from the job site but with ReStart they are getting a massive amount of flooring job scrap off the site at no additional cost, while minimizing the impact on the environment."

More than seven years ago, Walmart initiated recycling with Tarkett, through its distributor Linron Company, focusing on returning Azrock vinyl composition tile to its origin to avoid landfill and recycling the product into new tile. In less than one year, Walmart, Linron and Tarkett were able to collect more than 19 million pounds of reclaimed material. The companies also replaced cardboard containers with Super Sacks, which were easier to process and reusable.

Joe Jared, Vice President, Administration, for Tarkett, presented the award, which was accepted by James Schiely, Senior Construction Manager at Walmart Corporate U.S. Jared said, "Over the course of our relationship with Walmart, more than 91 million pounds of reclaimed materials have been returned to Tarkett. Walmart has further developed a keen awareness and commitment to the environment and sustainability."

A national leading distributor for retail chains, Linron Company accounted for 19.4 million pounds of recycled flooring. Linda Krienke, Co-Founder of the Linron Company, Ron Harris, Co-Founder of Linron Company, and Gilles de Beaumont, Vice President Business Development, were in attendance to accept the award.

"The team at Linron is versatile, flexible and reliable. The recycling of Azrock materials was new to Linron Company as well, and they were responsible for the operational changes necessary, adapting to the needs of our customer," said Jared. "They focus on solution development no matter the circumstance – especially when it comes to recycling and environmental responsibility."

Commercial flooring contractors with headquarters in Connecticut since 1952, M. Frank Higgins & Co. Inc., recycled over 96,000 pounds of flooring in 2013.  The company specializes in healthcare and education commercial environments.  Kathy and Steve Cloud, owners, accepted the award for the company.

Tarkett's history as an innovator in sustainable solutions dates back to 1957, when a recycling program for vinyl tile was created to reduce waste in landfills. With products such as the iQ™ Natural commercial vinyl sheet flooring, which uses a revolutionary plasticizer based on renewable resources that increase the product's natural content to 75 percent, Tarkett plans to feature a product portfolio free of contributions to resource scarcity by 2020 and also aims to have zero industrial waste going to landfill by the same year.

For more information about Tarkett's sustainable initiatives worldwide, visit www.tarkett.com. To learn more about the company's North American commercial and residential line of flooring products, visit www.tarkettna.com and www.tandus-centiva.com.

About Tarkett
Tarkett is a global leader in innovative and sustainable solutions for flooring and sports surfaces. With a wide range of products including vinyl, linoleum, carpet, rubber, wood & laminate, synthetic turf and athletics track, the Group serves customers in more than 100 countries worldwide. With 11,000 employees and 30 production sites, Tarkett sells 1.3 million square meters of flooring every day, for hospitals, schools, housing, hotels, offices, stores and sports fields. Committed to sustainable development, the Group has implemented an eco-innovation strategy and promotes circular economy. Tarkett net sales of 2.5 billion euros in 2013 are balanced between Europe, North America and new economies. Tarkett is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A, ticker TKTT, ISIN: FR0004188670) and is included in the following indices: SBF 120, CAC Mid 60, CAC Mid & Small, CAC All-Tradable. For more information about Tarkett global, please visit www.tarkett.com. To learn more about Tarkett North America, visit www.tarkettna.com.

SOURCE Tarkett

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