Valinge Develops Laminate Recycling Process

Viken, Sweden, Nov. 5, 2010 -- Valinge said it has developed a patented method to recycling laminate flooring.

The method, developed in 2007, mechanically cuts panels into small particles and mixes them with binders. The particles and the binders are pressed and formed to a sheet shaped material. 

Valinge said the sheet shaped material could be used as a core in a new traditional laminate floor panel or a powder based WFF floor panel and the panels could be recycled many times.

Old laminate floors could also be milled to wood powder and used as raw material in the surface layer of a new WFF floor panel based on the Välinge's new powder technology, the company said.

This new recycling method is expected to save raw materials and eliminate all gases that are created when an old laminate floor panel is burned.