Mannington Commercial has launched an ambitious program to recover and recycle post-consumer vinyl composition tile as part of the firm's broader initiative to close the loop of its manufacturing process.

Mannington announced the latest development in its 2-year-old LOOP Program on Tuesday. Mannington says it will partner with a regional reclamation company to obtain the used flooring from major facilities that are undergoing renovations.

The company is targeting sites that within 500 miles of its manufacturing facilities in Salem, N.J., where the used VCT will be delivered, recycled and then incorporated as material for new flooring in Mannington's Premium Tile line.

The company has already recycled more than 2 million pounds of VCT into new tile, according to John Emmons, the company's director of commercial manufacturing.

During its first year of operation, the new program is expected to accelerate operations and recycle more than 19 million pounds of VCT. And as of next month, Mannington's premium tile products will contain 25 percent post-consumer content, the company said.

The firm's premium tile product is most often used at commercial healthcare, education and retail sites. It already has been certified as an Environmentally Preferable Product according to the NSF-332 standards for eco-friendly flooring.

In announcing its new program, Mannington executives noted that more than 1 billion pounds of VCT end up in U.S. landfills each year.

"The volume of VCT going to landfills is an industrywide challenge," Dave Kitts, Mannington's vice president for environment, said in a statement. "This partnership exemplifies the sort of smart thinking that is reshaping manufacturing today. It's a simple business equation of supply and demand, built around our commitment to close the materials loop."

_{Image courtesy of Mannington Commercial.}