Estonian ash piles turned into carbon negative raw material for flooring: Tarkett and Ragn-Sells partner to fight climate change

Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, and the Swedish environmental company Ragn-Sells, have announced today 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% of recyc-led 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”, says 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”, continues 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”, says 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 kg CO2 eq 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 kg CO2 eq per kg (cradle-to-gate).

*The primary role of a mineral filler is to bring weight and volume to the flooring. It also plays an important role in the mechanical poperties such as the product stiffness.

**Carbon neutral means that a product stores as much greenhouse gas as it releases during its life cycle. Carbon negative means that a product stores more greenhouse gas than it emits during its life cycle. The carbon fooprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases - including carbon dioxide but also methane for example - emitted by a product or service. Cradle-to-gate includes all steps from extraction and transport of raw material to the actual manufacturing of a product.

Find out more about Ragn-Sells carbon capture solution:

About Ragn-Sells Group

The environmental company Ragn-Sells converts waste into pure raw materials so that they can be used over and over again. Ragn-Sells drives the transition to a circular economy through solutions that reduce the environmental and climate impact of others, and with a vision of a being living proof that caring for the earth and business go had in hand. Ragn-Sells is a family owned, privately held corporate group, originating from 1881. With operations in five countries, and 2,300 employees, the company had a turnover of 6.6 billion SEK in 2020.

About Tarkett

With a history of 140 years, Tarkett is a worldwide leader in innovative flooring and sports surface solutions, with net sales of € 2.6 billion in 2020. Offering a wide range of products including vinyl, linoleum, rubber, carpet, wood, laminate, artificial turf and athletics tracks, the Group serves customers in over 100 countries across the globe. Tarkett has more than 12,000 employees and 33 industrial sites, and sells 1.3 million square meters of flooring every day, for hospitals, schools, housing, hotels, offices, stores and sports fields. Committed to change the game with circular economy and to reducing its carbon footprint, the Group has implemented an eco-innovation strategy based on Cradle to Cradle® prin-ciples, fully aligned with its Tarkett Human-Conscious Design™ approach. Tarkett is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment B, ISIN: FR0004188670, ticker: TKTT).

Media contacts

Tarkett

Thomas Isaak -

Brunswick - - Tel.: +33 (0) 1 53 96 83 83

Ragn-Sells

Pär Larshans, Sustainability Director at Ragn-Sells, Tel.: ,

Emma Ranerfors, Press Manager at Ragn-Sells, Tel.: ,

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