We take responsibility for the world we live in, so our standard is sustainable production. We’re continuously looking for ways to work as sustainable as possible, to save and recycle materials. Our goal is that 80% of our products will be sustainable in 2020, for instance by finding new destinations for (waste) products or by making sure that our products are 100% PVC-free, biobased or circular. From 2009 onwards, we have been reusing products and materials.
We don't just dream about a sustainable world, we want to build it with our own hands. In order to do so, we, amongst others, develop biovate products. We rate a product as ‘bio’ if it consists of biological ingredients with unlimited availability. We’ve already developed the first products, such as Walltex Biovate (together with partner Radisson Blu & Red): the first biobased contract suited wallcovering. Another example is our PLEX panels that are fully made of Polypropyleen and can therefore be 100% recycled.
Our biovate products are free of: PVC’s, VOC’s, Phthalates, Chlorines, Formaldehyde, heavy metals and ozone depleting chemicals.
We’ve already made a small difference by reducing our ecological footprint, but we want to do more. We believe that our options are endless, and it is our mission to constantly innovate.
When we receive campaigns back after usage, we add value to the material by upcycling it into another product. We collect the campaigns cost neutral and add value to the material by creating a new product. We, for instance, make felt from polyester campaigns that is later used in the car industry. Moreover, by already separating PLEX and polyester in the factory, the campaigns can be recycled.
Wherever we can, we arrange our processes in a circular way and draw inspiration from Ellen MacArthur’s ideas. This means that we ask our suppliers to only deliver materials into which we can reduce our product again, after use. In doing so, we reduce the amount of waste by turning our waste into material. In other words, we are changing our processes from linear to circular. Together with one of our partners, we have for instance developed campaigns that are 60% made from pet bottles.
Video "the circular economy" by Ellen MacArthur Foundation
In 2004 we launched our Wise Choice collection: a collection of materials that are printed with solvent-free inks and are PVC-free. Examples are our Gluetex and Walltex biovate wallcovering. Our solvent-free inks are marked with the Nordic Swan label and the Greenguard eco label.