Starting this year, old and broken fishing nets from fishermen in the Dutch town of Urk will be used in new entrance mat materials from Forbo. With this initiative, Urk fleets from this well-known fishing town are not only reducing their C02 emissions, but also helping to keep the North Sea clean. It is estimated that in total, around 150 tonnes of fishing nets will be collected from Urk fishermen each year to be used in Forbo’s Coral and Nuway entrance mat product lines.

Fishnets & Plastic Bottles:

Forbo Flooring has long used a recycled textile yarn made from plastic bottles in their entrance mats. The yarn, called Econyl, is produced by Italian manufacturer Aquafil in Slovenia. The fishing nets collected from Urk will now additionally be used in this versatile yarn, which can be used for clothing as well as in carpeting and mat flooring materials. In fact, several companies and designers also use Econyl in their products. This includes clothing from surf champion Kelly Slater’s clothing line Outer Known, as well as in nylon swimwear from Speedo.

Forbo claims that the production of their entrance mats produces almost no waste at all because any resulting excess material can be in turn recycled into paper, new yarn or carpet tiles. Thus, Forbo joins the sustainable trend in the carpet industry, with Desso and Interface as trailblazers.

Desso & Interface: 

Interface, for example, has long engaged in the practice of recycling fishing nets from developing countries as part of its program Net-Works. Examples of this work include their Net-Effect line of carpets. The company has won several awards for their Net-Works project including the prestigious European Business Awards for the Environment (2014-2015) in the category International Business Cooperation.

Likewise, in December 2015, Desso celebrated two prestigious industry awards, the highly sought after FX Surfaces Award and Mixology North Environmental and Sustainability Award for its pioneering Transitions carpet tile collection. 60% of Desso’s carpet line is made with Econyl, including Transitions.