Paris, France – Tarkett and the Swedish environmental company Ragn-Sells, have announced a collaboration aiming at developing carbon negative mineral fillers for vinyl flooring by 2025. The calcium is extracted from ash piles in Estonia and the calcium carbonate is produced using carbon capture technology.

During the last 50 years, Estonia has incinerated oil shale rock to produce energy. As a result, more than 600 million tons of oil shale ash have been disposed of in nature, heavily impacting the environment. Ragn-Sells has developed a patented solution transforming ash into useful mineral fillers using carbon capture technology. Several hundred thousand tons of mineral fillers, most of them calcium carbonate, are used by Tarkett for their vinyl flooring solutions every year. The calcium carbonate currently used by Tarkett is already carbon neutral. With the calcium carbonate produced by Ragn-Sells, it is expected to generate a carbon negative footprint. The partnership with Ragn-Sells will contribute to achieving Tarkett’s 2030 objective of reaching 30 percent of recycled content in its raw materials, ultimately reducing the company’s carbon footprint.

“Today’s society is based on an unsustainable use of natural resources. Ragn-Sells is committed to bringing more resources back into the loop. To close these material loops, we need to collaborate with other stakeholders in the value chain,” said Pär Larshans, Sustainability Director at Ragn-Sells Group. “Tarkett is an excellent example of a company that shares our vision and commitment, and we very much look forward to developing our collaboration,” continued Mr Larshans.

“For Tarkett, this project has the potential to produce flooring with raw materials that contribute to the clean-up of the environment in Estonia while capturing carbon dioxide. As a result, our vinyl flooring will have a lower carbon footprint and an increased amount of recycled content. This is exactly the kind of innovative and robust partnership that we believe will pave the way for a circular and carbon neutral society,” said Arnaud Marquis, Chief Sustainability Officer at Tarkett.

Carbon footprint of calcium carbonate in Tarkett flooring 

The calcium carbonate currently used by Tarkett already has a carbon neutral footprint of 0.006 kgCO₂eq per kg (cradle-to-gate). With the calcium carbonate produced by Ragn-Sells, it is expected to generate a carbon negative footprint of -0.4 kgCO₂eq per kg (cradle-to-gate).