• Laminate Guide
• How to Choose Laminate
• Laminate Flooring Installation
• Laminate Care and Maintenance
• Laminate Flooring FAQ's
• Martha Stewart and Armstrong

• Eco-Friendly Laminate

Green Trends in Laminate

Laminate’s place in the pro-earth movement

Sparing the life of exotic species is the least of it, say laminate flooring experts expounding the category’s earth-friendly properties.

"We don’t have to cut the tree," said Juan Flores, president of Faus Floors. "But green is not only about trees."

From the facilities and materials used in its creation to its pop-it-up and reuse it ability, laminate flooring’s entire lifecycle has an environmental story to tell.

The state-of-the-art laminate flooring manufacturing facilities scattered between North Carolina and Calhoun, Ga. — where Faus, Pergo, Mannington, Mohawk, Unilin and Shaw maintain operations – are a testament to modern green engineering. Going beyond your everyday citizenry recycling, these facilities transform waste or rejected products into fuel, packaging or more laminate floorboards.

"Ninety-nine percent of the material used to package Shaw laminate is diverted from the landfill through the use of recyclable material," said Scott Sandlin, Shaw’s vice president business development, hard surfaces division. "Our EnviroCore high-density-fiber core is derived from recycled wood fiber. One hundred percent of the post-industrial laminate manufacturing waste from our Ringgold, Ga., facility is diverted from the landfill and used as fuel."

Close-to-home production further reduces these mills’ global carbon footprint while the finished product’s glueless nature ensures its usefulness long after an end user moves on to something more permanent.

"When homeowners have laminate and decide to change the floor, they simply unclick it, remove it and reuse it – either in another room, another home or it can be given away and reused by a community organization," said Roger Farabee, vice president of marketing, Unilin Flooring. "Other floors either cannot be reused at all, or doing so would be costly and difficult."

Wilsonart Flooring has capitalized on the category’s earth-friendly properties to penetrate the stringent commercial marketplace. "Ongoing tests provide assurance that the level of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), including formaldehyde, are well within recommendations set by internationally respected public health organizations," said Curt Thompson, general manager, Wilsonart Flooring. "It will not harbor dust, odors, mold, mildew or other allergens that can aggravate asthma and other breathing-related disorders. This issue is becoming more important to consumers and design professionals who are concerned about the air quality inside their homes and workplaces."

A consumer base increasingly growing aware of earth-friendly technological advancements is becoming predisposed to make higher-conscious purchases, a phenomenon that is already impacting decisions being made by flooring executives, Flores said. "When a customer likes two floors equally but she sees one that is green and one that is not, she’s going to buy the one that contributes to the earth," he said. "As a company we want to bet on that story."