Tarkett Group Partnering to Develop Carbon Negative Fillers for Vinyl Flooring

Paris, FR, October 12, 2021-Tarkett and the Swedish environmental company Ragn-Sells have announced a collaboration aiming at developing carbon negative mineral fillers for vinyl flooring by 2025. The calcium is extracted from ash piles in Estonia, and the calcium carbonate is produced using carbon capture technology.

During the last 50 years, Estonia has incinerated oil shale rock to produce energy. As a result, more than 600 million tons of oil shale ash have been disposed of in nature, heavily impacting the environment. Ragn-Sells has developed a patented solution transforming ash into useful mineral fillers using carbon capture technology.

Several hundred thousand tons of mineral fillers, most of them calcium carbonate, are used by Tarkett for their vinyl flooring solutions every year. The calcium carbonate currently used by Tarkett is already carbon neutral. With the calcium carbonate produced by Ragn-Sells, it is expected to generate a carbon negative footprint. The partnership with Ragn-Sells will contribute to achieving Tarkett’s 2030 objective of reaching 30% of recycled content in its raw materials, ultimately reducing the company’s carbon footprint.