Environmentally Preferred

The Ecospecifier Global GreenTagCertTM scheme operated by Global GreenTag P/L is a third party ecolabel program that rates sustainable products for the built environment. Polyflor’s many products certified under the scheme in Australia and New Zealand, with Polyflor homogeneous PUR ranges typically in the top 50% of resilient finishes based on their GreenTag Ecopoints. Assessment of products is based on a life cycle approach and measuring the impact of products, including in the following critical areas:

• Reduction of Energy and Greenhouse Gases
• Habitat and Land Degradation
• Resource Depletion and Efficiency
• Occupant and Contractor Health & Conditions
• Toxicity to Land, Air and Water

Due to the strong performance in minimising the environmental impact in these categories, Polyflor products are listed on the Ecospecifier database (www.ecospecifier.com.au) of environmentally preferable building materials, providing architects, designers and specifiers an easier and effective way to select an environmentally sustainable floorcovering. Furthermore, Polyflor was the first commercial vinyl flooring organisation to achieve Ecospecifier’s GreenTag LCARate certification across all of its key ranges and achieves GreenRate level A, scoring maximum points in the Materials-’Sustainable Products’ and IEQ-VOC sections of the Green Star rating tools.

Polyflor has achieved maximum rating points in the Green Building Council Australia (GBCA) and New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC) Green Star rating tools. Green Star rates the environmental and sustainable performance of a building as with LEED and BREEAM; using Polyflor products certified by Ecospecifier’s GreenTag scheme can therefore help the specifier achieve maximum points. Potential for points on a Green Star assessment is further improved using Polyflor’s Homogeneous, Wall Cladding and ESD flooring ranges for achieving ‘PVC Best Practice’, as audited by NCS International Pty Ltd to meet the GBCA best practice guidelines.

Polyflor is a cofounding and funding member of Recofloor, the industry’s leading vinyl take-back scheme for recycling end of life post-consumer vinyl flooring. Through Recofloor, Polyflor can recycle smooth and safety installation off-cuts, smooth uplifted flooring and old stock roll-end and samples which would normally end up in landfill. This material is recovered and recycled into new flooring or other useful products such as traffic cones.

Most of Polyflor’s product ranges are 100% recyclable with many of the floor coverings containing up to 40% recycled content. The ranges are recycled through the Recofloor Vinyl Take-Back Scheme to which the vinyl can be recycled many times over without losing its performance and functionality.

Environmental Product Declarations (EPD’s) provide completely transparent information about Polyflor products and their impact on the environment. In 2012 Polyflor were part of the ERFMI EN 15804 generic data set for creation of industry EPD’s which were successfully, independently verified by IBU. All generic and product specific EPD’s are written to the rules and standards according to EN 15804 and ISO 14025.

The Singapore Green Building Product (SGBP) certification aims to aggregate and amass a wide selection of green building materials for the industry through a comprehensive and holistic methodology and is highly recognised under the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) Green Mark Scheme.

Polyflor has received Singapore Green Building Product certificates (SGBP) for the following products:

LEADER √√√√ (The highest rating):
Heterogenous: FOREST FX PUR, Expona Flow PUR, Silentflor PUR
Homogenous: XL PU, Classic Mystique PUR, Palettone PUR

Excellent √√√ (The second highest rating):
Heterogenous: BLOC PUR