Roppe Corporation has announced its strategic partnership with Starnet Worldwide, the Commercial Flooring Partnership, to utilize Roppe’s IMPACT program. IMPACT, Roppe’s rubber products recycling program, was introduced in June of 2009.

“Roppe’s IMPACT program is a great opportunity for all Starnet Members to help clients achieve their environmental goals,” said Jeanne Matson, Starnet president and ceo. “Our members are successful business people who are committed to providing sustainable flooring solutions to every customer they service.”

“As a preferred vendor with Starnet for the past 7 years, we have grown to rely on the members and their relationships with our distributor partners as a way to grow our business as well as theirs”, said Rick Rollins, director of specifications for Roppe Holding Company. “When we kicked off this recycling program it wasn’t a matter of who we would partner with, but more a matter of the timing and how it would best work with Starnet. Announcing this program partnership at the Starnet Annual Meeting is a great way to show our combined commitment to green building and design.”  

“What makes this program unique is that we are offering a .01¢ per pound incentive for every pound recycled by the Starnet members to be accrued over a 1 year period,” said Jeremy Whipple, marketing manager for Roppe Holding Company. “At the 2011 Starnet Annual Meeting, we will proudly announce the grand total of recycled products generated from our Starnet partners and present them with a contribution check payable to The Wounded Warrior Project as our appreciation of their commitment to our program.”

“Many of our contractor partners have expressed that the process will ultimately end up being cost neutral when considering the cost to landfill the products versus shipping them to our recycling partner,” Whipple said.  “The Starnet members have been very successful in recycling initiatives within the carpet industry. Our desire is that Roppe’s rubber recycling process will eventually become a standard practice among contractors, much like those practiced in the carpet industry. Roppe is the first to implement a program of this sort for installed rubber products and samples in the field and we have been very pleased with how it has been received.”

Rollins also noted, “The result of the Roppe IMPACT program and Starnet partnership is that potentially thousands of pounds of jobsite waste can be diverted from our already gorged landfills and repurposed into costeffective products that simultaneously promote the environment while providing beautiful, durable landscaping alternatives or eye-catching playground surfaces that are the cleanest and safest on the American market.”

The following products have been approved to be recycled with this vendor: Pinnacle Rubber Base, AlphaBase, BaseMates, Pinnacle Plus Wall Base, Rubber Corner Blocks, Dimensions Rubber Tile, Smooth and Marbleized Rubber Tile, Raised Design Rubber Tile and Tread, SafeTcork Rubber Tile and Tread, Fiesta Rubber Tile and Tread, SafeTcork Fiesta Rubber Tile and Tread, Designer’s Choice Rubber Tile, Spike/Skate Resistant Tile, Recoil Fitness Flooring, Tuflex Recycled Rubber Tile and Rubber Accessories.

Starnet Worldwide, with more than 170 independently owned and operated flooring contractor members in North America, is the largest commercial flooring association in the flooring industry.