The intensive collaboration between Tarkett and Aquafil over recent years goes beyond the traditional customer and supplier relationship. The result is a significant step towards circular economy.
Tarkett has sourced PA6 and ECONYL® regenerated nylon from Aquafil for more than a decade and uses ECONYL® yarn in its Desso AirMaster carpet tiles, for example. Now, the partnership is going full circle, with Aquafil sourcing post-use PA6 yarn from Tarkett to create its regenerated ECONYL® fiber.

Tarkett has developed breakthrough technology at its Waalwijk facility and is now able to separate the two principal components of carpet tiles – yarn and backing, while retaining more than 95% yarn purity – this level of purity is vital in ensuring that the polyamide 6 (PA6) yarn can be recycled by Aquafil and transformed into regenerated ECONYL® nylon yarn.

Tarkett’s EcoBase carpet tile backing has been designed for disassembly from outset. At its recycling center, Tarkett creates two streams of material that can be recycled and transformed into high-quality resources for new products.
The PA6 yarn and backing are recycled without loss of quality; used yarn becomes new yarn and used backing new backing.

Giulio Bonazzi, Aquafil’s CEO, comments: “We are delighted to help Tarkett with the last mile of its journey to close the loop on carpet tile production. We must urgently transform the way products are designed, produced and consumed. Through our collaboration with Tarkett, we will strengthen our commitment to realizing this vision by increasing the utilisation of yarns and helping to design out waste.