Tarkett announced the recipients of its annual ReUse Award. This award is given to clients whose dedication to utilizing Tarkett’s ReUse Environment Program result in significant reclamation and reuse of Tarkett flooring. Recipients of the Tarkett ReUse 2009 Environmental Accomplishment Award include: Academy Sports + Outdoors, Texan Floor Service and Dobbins Floor Covering Inc.

“It is our hope that individual recognition with this award will not only honor our ReUse participants,” said Diane Martel, vice president environmental planning and strategy for Tarkett, “but increase awareness of the need to recycle materials and further encourage the use of our ReUse Reclamation Program.”

Since its inception, the Tarkett ReUse Reclamation program has recycled over twenty million pounds of material and saved it from landfills. Most recently, Kevin Tierney, regional sales manager for Tarkett, worked closely together with Academy Sports + Outdoors, Dobbins Floor Covering and Texan Floor Service to include recycling in recent project specifications. These specifications included the recycling of used flooring from existing retail locations as well as recycling installation waste from new stores.

By utilizing Tarkett’s ReUse program this collaborative effort has reclaimed more than 300,000 pounds of Azrock Asset VCT from Academy Sports + Outdoors locations in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Louisiana. All of the flooring material was returned to Tarkett’s Houston plant and ground up into particles usable to produce future commercial tile at the Houston facility.

Tarkett takes a true cradle-to-cradle approach to manufacturing, starting with the materials used to create the tile, through the product’s life and back to recycled material into future tile. The company continues to evaluate its product’s quality, reliability and product life benefits by focusing on its Balanced Choice philosophy of using better raw materials, resource stewardship, creating people-friendly spaces and recycling.

Tarkett’s recycling efforts have increased significantly in recent years. Through its Azrock brand, Tarkett reported recycling nearly one million pounds of material in 2008 and over 20 million pounds in 2009. By the end of 2010, Tarkett anticipates the possibility of recycling up to 65 million pounds of installed tiles. For more information about Tarkett’s ReUse Reclamation Program, visit tarkett.com or call toll free 1-800-366-2689.