The company stated that this development of new testing methods is a direct result of continuous commitment to prevent PFAS contamination in from manufacturing operations. For as early as January 2019, Shaw had already eliminated the use of PFAS-based substances for soil and stain resistance treatments across all its U.S. carpet manufacturing facilities. Following this, they have also mandated all third-party suppliers to be free of PFAS.

The Need for Enhanced Scrutiny

However, Shaw’s environmental division realized that further preventive measures were crucial, even after the initial steps were taken. The company discovered that suppliers were sometimes unaware about the presence of PFAS in their raw materials. Furthermore, current testing standards often failed to accurately detect PFAS in semi-finished raw materials.

Addressing the Limitations of Existing Protocols

“Materials acquired by us would often test negative for PFAS when subjected to established drinking water testing methods,” explained Kellie Ballew, Vice President of Environmental Affairs. “We determined that drinking water testing was unreliable for detecting PFAS in soaps, oils, resins, and diverse solid materials – essentially, anything beyond potable water sources.”

Ballew also noted that the absence of an appropriate testing framework for these materials prompted Shaw to engineer their unique methodology to overcome this deficiency.

Understanding PFAS

PFAS represent a diverse group of thousands of chemicals extensively utilized across various industrial and consumer domains since the 1940s. They are commonly present in items like food containers, beauty products, personal hygiene items and a plethora of other everyday commodities.Exposure to PFAS may be associated with increased risk of cancer. A large-scale study on exposure to PFAS in humans and rodents showed consistent evidence of liver damage. In addition, PFAS are known to accumulate in body tissues such as in the liver.

The post New Testing Method to Detect PFAS in Finished Floorings first appeared on Sreelance.

Living Building Challenge Red-List Materials

The Red-List has outline some of the most toxic materials to health and environments.

• Alkylphenols
• Antimicrobials (Marketed with a Health Claim)
• Asbestos Compounds
• Bisphenol A
• California-Banned Solvents
• Chlorinated polymers Including Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), Chloroprene (Neoprene Monomer), and CPVC
• Chlorobenzenes
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)
• Formaldehyde
• Halogenated fire retardants (HFRs)
• Organotin Compounds
• Perfluorinated and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFAS) / Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs)
• Phthalates (Orthophthalates)
• Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
• Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHS)
• Short-Chain and Medium-ChainChlorinated paraffins
• Toxic Heavy Metals including Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium VI, Lead , and Mercury
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in wet applied products
• Wood treatments containing creosote or pentachlorophenol

Toxic substances and compositions such as asbestos, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Formaldehyde, Halogenated fire retardants, phthalates, cadmium, chromium, and lead are some of the more frequent concerns associated with floor covering products. Whether its the formaldehydes found in high density fiberboard (HDF) for making laminate flooring, phthalates conventionally used for making vinyl floorings, PVC compositions which are currently the mainstream material for making luxury vinyl planks, or toxic heavy metals found in LVT products that are made from recycled PVC compositions. As a mean to reduce these toxicity and the risks it delivers to the environment, The Living Building Challenge was established in 2006 as a campaign to address these issues in building materials and construction industry.

Common known Red-List Free Flooring Products

• Hardwood Flooring
• Carpet tiles made from natural fibers, Polypropylene PP, or PET polymers
• Rubber Flooring
• Resilient flooring made from Linoleum
• LVT flooring made from Polypropylene PP
• LVT flooring made from Polyethylene Terephthalate PET

The Major Benefit of Red-List Free Flooring

A red-list free complied floor covering has the benefit of being more environmentally friendly. As major toxic substances are not being applied and used in the making of flooring products, it provide a safer flooring options for consumers and environments. The Red List Free approval offer absolute peace of mind for anyone looking to create a healthier, safer and more sustainable home.

Luxury Polypropylene Flooring – The next Red-List Free Flooring Options

As of currently, luxury resilient floorings such as LVP and SPC are still being made with PVC compositions. While many NGO associations and environmental activists are calling for better sustainability by phasing out applications of PVC in building materials, PVC still remain the core and most used material in resilient flooring manufacturing. Pioneer brands such as Ceramin, Shaw, and Mohawk all work with new material solutions to provide the next generation of LVT and SPC products that is made from non-vinyl materials. This is where luxury polypropylene flooring comes in. As an alternative solution for PVC flooring, polypropylene has the mechanical properties as well as environmental factors to make it ideal to replace PVC.

Where to buy Red-List Free Resilient Flooring

Currently most of the manufacturers in Asia are still focus on PVC based resilient flooring manufacturing. Only the best of manufacturers has a progressive focus on PVC free resilient flooring developments and Red-list free resilient flooring developments. The race between PET and PP based composition are still very unclear as different leading brands are taking different approach to their next generation resilient flooring products.

Here are Sreelance Material Technology, we provide solutions for polypropylene based resilient flooring manufacturing. Therefore you can buy polypropylene LVT and polypropylene SPC from us as we have excellent capability to provide high performance polypropylene resilient floorings.

Our polypropylene resilient flooring has product features in the following:

• High Scratch resistance performance
• Strong mechanical performance for click profiling
• Meeting Bfl-S1 fire retardant rating
• Manufactured in extrusion continuous production process
• No PUR nor glue applied

The post The Major Benefits of Red-List Free Flooring first appeared on Sreelance.

Polypropylene vs Polyethylene Terephthalate

The resilient flooring industry in China has spin off with two major directions. One is the polypropylene (PP) plastic and another alternative Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). Both type of polymers has shown enough characteristics to replace PVC based LVT products. However, each of these new material development solutions has shown different strength and weakness, which resulted in ambiguous interest by different flooring brand. Some global leading brands in flooring has chosen PET as their next generation LVT products, while other competitor brands choose PP-LVT as their prominent product development strategy.

First Dryback Non-Vinyl Flooring Collection by Tarkett

As a pioneer brand in the resilient flooring category, Tarkett has already launched their first dryback non-vinyl flooring collection, the iD Evolution. The iD Evolution offers commercial dryback LVT that is made from polypropylene based polymers. A 2.5mm thick LVT with 183 x 1219 mm plank size. With ten different pattern color designs to select from, this PVC free PP-LVT is considered a unique and environmental flooring products. According to their product introduction, the iD Evolution LVT collection has a carbon footprint (Cradle to gate) of 11.30 kg CO2/m2. An ideal flooring solution that can effectively support commercial project’s carbon footprint accountability.

The post Dryback Non-Vinyl Flooring Collection for Flooring Brand first appeared on Sreelance.