Introduction
Founded in 2004, Designflooring has grown to be one of the leading vinyl flooring companies in Europe. We are aware that the activities of our company have an impact on the environment and are committed to the continual improvement of our manufacturing and logistical processes to ensure sustainability and best value for our customers and stakeholders alike. This commitment is driven from the top down, with training given to all employees on how they can contribute to the achievement of our environmental objectives. We pride ourselves on environmental awareness in the supply and maintenance of all our products worldwide and regularly monitor our performance against key criteria, to ensure continual improvement of both our products and processes in this area.
Within our own premises, we reduce our environmental impact by adopting reasonable controls to prevent air, water, ground and noise pollution and keeping sites clean and tidy. We also work with our suppliers and sub-contractors to improve their awareness of environmental issues.
For more information, view our full environmental statement.
Manufacture and supply
Our factories are all certified to the ISO 14001 environmental standard which means we are committed to continuous improvement of environmental performance, including systems to control water usage, and product packaging made of 100% recycled material. All of our factories are also certified to ISO 9001 quality standard.
The wear layers in our products use high quality 100% virgin PVC and all of our flooring products use recycled PVC as part of the remaining layers. In fact, our products can contain as much as 50% recycled content in the backing layers, derived from post-production waste such as off-cuts, trimmings and process dust. Almost 100% of this production and post-production waste is granulated and recycled back into new product, in a closed loop recycling process.
Our European operation is certified to ISO 14001:2015.
Sustainable raw materials
The key raw material in our product, PVC, is derived from a truly sustainable resource: salt. In addition to some renewable bio-based raw material, the minerals used to reinforce our products are also naturally plentiful in the earth’s crust and can be considered sustainable.
Raw materials are purchased in bulk and sourced as locally to our factories as possible. They are also sourced from ISO 14001/ISO 9001 certified raw material suppliers where possible.
Safe products
Our products are based on vinyl (PVC); the same tried and tested material used in vital medical equipment, from blood bags to dialysis tubing, heart and lung bypass tubing, surgical gloves to pill packets. The same material we put our trust in for pipes, wire and cable protection and window frames. Indeed, it is the most widely used polymer in building and construction.
All our products are free from heavy metals and are fully compliant with ‘REACH’ (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). This is a European Union regulation addressing the production and use of chemicals and their potential impacts on human health and the environment. They are also free from both ‘BPA’ (bisphenol A) and formaldehyde.
None of our products contain raw materials which are reprotoxic, endocrine disrupting or carcinogenic.
Our European products are CE marked which confirms that they comply with EU Construction Products Regulation 305/2011 and meet the requirements of the harmonised European standard EN 14041.
