Circular economy

Avoiding waste, conserving resources, and reducing climate-damaging greenhouse gases. These are the challenges (not only) in the carpet industry. GUT is supporting the transformation process in the textile flooring industry towards a circular economy. Learn more here about our approach and the circular economy model in general.

The principle of recycling has been known and implemented for a long time. However, simply reprocessing or reusing products and waste in general that are no longer needed cannot sustainably address the global problems of resource loss and climate change. The principle of circular economy takes a more comprehensive approach and describes an efficient concept. In addition to recycling, the following principles are particularly important:

• DESIGN: Material-efficient product design & use of easily recyclable materials
• PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION: Energy-efficient manufacturing and resource-conserving distribution
• PRODUCT USE: Longer product lifespan
• RECYCLING: Collecting and recycling waste
• RAW MATERIALS: Reuse of recycled (or renewable) materials

With these principles and requirements for the individual areas of a product lifecycle, a closed loop for products is created that is sustainable and efficient, thus conserving resources and the environment. This is called circular economy.

Private households, offices, cars, airplanes, or sports facilities: we find carpets in many areas of our daily lives. Annual consumption within the European Union is approximately 685 million square meters of carpet or textile flooring (and also surface coverings in general). The majority of this textile flooring or the yarn for it is made from synthetic polymers, which in turn are based on petroleum. Nevertheless, there is a wide variety of different materials and material compositions as well as production processes. And most textile flooring products were designed or manufactured for a lifespan of 10 years. For this reason, the transition to a “European” circular economy is a longer-term process.

The industry’s strategy envisions that the principle of circular economy should be implemented in the long term in three steps:

• In the first step, existing or processed textile flooring must be recycled as effectively as possible at the end of its lifecycle.
• In the second step, which has already been initiated in parallel, a common, Europe-wide approach for materials and design of textile flooring (taking into account that existing products will be “phased out” in the short term) must be created that enables efficient and, if possible, endless recycling and reuse of materials.
• The third step involves continuous investment in and promotion of the best and most advanced materials, products, and manufacturing methods at the European level. And not only through laws and regulations, but also through appropriate incentivization of the most advanced approaches for a circular economy in the textile flooring industry.

Feel free to contact us and we will send you relevant information. Please send an email to: mail@gut-ev.de
or read the EU carpet industry strategy paper (only available in English).

You will be redirected to the European Carpet and Rug Association page.