In the flooring industry there are few greater challenges than recycling carpet. In Australia and New Zealand alone, it’s estimated that around 90,000 tonnes of carpet waste is sent to landfill each year. The reason is simple: carpet is notoriously difficult to recycle. Made from multiple layers fused together, it’s almost impossible to separate the components efficiently, and until now, that’s what the industry has tried to do. Milliken set out to challenge this approach, and the result is – a revolutionary new resilient flooring product that can be repeatedly recycled.
“Carpet is a multi-polymer product, and recycling it is quite a challenge,” says Shaneel Deo, Managing Director at Milliken. “It can be done, but it’s very costly to separate all the different components and recycle them individually.” Deo came across saveBOARD, a New Zealand company creating low carbon, circular building materials from composite packaging, and realised the answer lay not in pulling the material components of carpet apart, but in repurposing carpet in its entirety. Deo contacted Paul Charteris at saveBOARD, initiating a two-year research and development program that resulted in the creation of an innovative product for the flooring industry. During this process, an additional opportunity emerged to incorporate difficult-to-recycle soft plastic waste, a significant issue given that over one million tonnes of such waste are sent to landfill annually in Australia and New Zealand.
The process developed by and involves shredding not only carpet tiles but also consumer soft plastics, such as supermarket bags, and pressing them into a new flooring product without any chemical adhesives. The resilient flooring plank is made entirely from materials previously destined for landfill and can be recycled over and over again in a closed-loop system that includes not just end-of-life products, but installation waste and off-cuts too.
“We’ve taken the waste stream created by carpet and used it to create a higher-value product that can be used as an alternative to hard flooring and LVT flooring, which itself generates an estimated 60,000 tonnes of waste each year,” explains Dr Zulfiqar Khan, Technical Director at Milliken.
From a technical perspective, the innovation of Renasci™ lies in its simplicity. The waste is shredded, layered, and pressed into a high-performing, durable product that meets the demands of commercial interiors without the environmental baggage of traditional vinyl alternatives.
“We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved with Renasci™,” says Khan, “We had to rethink everything, but what we created is something that has the potential to revolutionise the industry. Renasci™ can be used for various interior flooring applications, and development is ongoing to increase its availability in colour and design choices.
“One of the major challenges was finding the right “recipe” for the waste mix. For over 2 years, the team trialled and refined different formulas, balancing strength, flexibility and finish. A key breakthrough came in developing a scratch-and wear-resistant top layer that could be applied mechanically – without the need for glue or chemical bonding agents,” says Paul Charteris, Founder and CEO at saveBoard.
The collaboration between Milliken and saveBOARD is rooted in shared values and true dedication to sustainability. While saveBOARD brought the machinery and material expertise, Milliken offered deep knowledge of the flooring industry, and the ability to innovate and commercialise the product. Together, they’ve created a new vision for flooring globally.
Renasci™ also feeds into Milliken’s broader , which serves as the driving force behind the company’s ongoing innovations in product stewardship, “At Milliken, we’re not driven by short-term thinking. Our purpose is to positively impact the world around us for generations to come” says Deo. “With Renasci™, we’re giving waste a second life and giving the industry a new path forward.”
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