With a commitment to the environment that relies in part on the architectural and design community’s participation, Azrock by Tarkett announced today that with the help of Resource4Floors and Ziegler Cooper Architects, its ReUse reclamation program is gaining momentum.

The ReUse reclamation program allows architects, designers and dealers the opportunity to recycle Tarkett flooring material to avoid it being deposited into landfills. In January 2006, Tarkett expanded its program to include the reclamation and recycling of its flooring samples, such as carry boards, chip boxes and architectural folders, which further reduced material deposited into landfills.

Last week Azrock reclaimed a total of 20,352 pounds or 14,300 square feet of pre-consumer and post-consumer tile. Resource4Floors transported 19,200 pounds of unused VCT back to Azrock for recycling. Similarly Ziegler Cooper Architects returned flooring for recycling after the completion of a renovation project.

Ziegler Cooper helped simplify the reclamation process by writing the recycle of installed flooring into the project’s specification. Once the 1,152 pounds of commercial tile was removed, it was shipped a few miles from the job site to Azrock’s Houston manufacturing facility to be recycled into new flooring.

"Sustainable design is a high priority for us," said Amy Jochem, senior associate at Ziegler Cooper Architects. "And once we knew how easy it would be to utilize Azrock’s reclamation program, we jumped at the chance to include them in the renovation of an existing building project."

Available nationwide since May 2003, Azrock’s ReUse reclamation program began in May 2006 as a pilot program in Texas. This test market allows Azrock to gauge the effectiveness of educating the end-user of the availability of the program and monitoring the subsequent participation.

"Since the program’s inception, it has been an educational process to inform the A&D community of the importance and availability of our recycling program," said Diane Martel, vice president marketing for Tarkett Commercial Tile. "The strong support of our flooring distributors and the A&D community will help make our ReUse program a success. It is our hope this program will help make a positive impact on our environment and improve awareness of the importance of environmental responsibility."

Over the past two years Azrock’s ReUse Reclamation program has recycled over 100,000 pounds of material and saved it from the landfill.

"We are happy to see ReUse gaining momentum and becoming successful in the state of Texas," said Martel. "This year we plan to increase post-consumer and post-industrial recycled content, and we depend on the end-user’s response to our ReUse recycling program to help make that a reality."