Metroflor Corporation is leading the charge in sustainability and transparency for the resilient flooring industry, under the combined direction of Metroflor’s Group CEO Harlan Stone and the company’s first Chief Sustainability Officer Rochelle Routman. Rochelle leads the Product Authority Team, which oversees all aspects of the product channel through a sustainability lens: Product and Social Transparency, Customer Service, Testing and Compliance, Innovation, Quality, and Performance. Her team is an information clearinghouse that directs how sustainability unfolds throughout the global company.
Declare Labels: Aspecta Commercial Range – first in rigid core category
The company has committed to transparency in the resilient flooring industry and is the very first to issue a Declare label, analogous to nutrition labels for building products, for rigid core flooring. This first-ever rigid core Declare label is for Metroflor’s Aspecta® Ten, a multi-layer flooring product that features the company’s proprietary ISOCORE Technology®. Said Rochelle Routman, “We are excited that we can offer such a valuable label that meets this intense need in the marketplace, as many designers and architects are becoming acquainted with this new category of rugged yet beautiful flooring.”
This new label adds to Metroflor’s existing portfolio of Declare labels for the entire ASPECTA commercial range – over 200 patterns in total across the three collections.
Innovation in sustainability also fueled the development of ISOCORE: The plasticizer-free and phthalate-free cellular vinyl core is produced from 100% recyclable, first-generation vinyl. The decision was made to forgo the use of recycled content to avoid contamination from predecessor phthalates – again, a new conversation initiated by Metroflor.
Health Product Declarations for all Aspecta products
Additionally, the company has issued Health Product Declarations (HPDs) for its full line of Aspecta products. HPDs are comprehensive transparency documents that provide health-related information for product ingredients. Declare labels and HPDs are recognized by the USGBC for credit under LEEDv4 and can also contribute towards credits under the WELL Building Standard. Metroflor is a proud sponsor and participant of mindful MATERIALS, a program aimed at providing designers, architects, and others with the tools needed to consider human health and environmental impacts of products in the built environment.
Mindful Materials accomplishes this goal via a two-pronged approach: an online library that evolved from a downloadable Microsoft Excel file into a fully searchable database hosted on ORIGIN, and a labeling system for products physically represented in resource libraries.
By participating in the mindful MATERIALS program (via both their online library on ORIGIN and their labeling system), Metroflor is able to provide comprehensive transparency, safety, and sustainability declarations and certifications to its commercial customers. The same information is also available to the general public and can be found on the main ORIGIN website and on the company’s own website.
Safety is just as important as sustainability and transparency, and Metroflor employs a rigorous testing program to ensure the safety of its products. Testing is conducted at the ISO 9001 and 14001-certified factories at which the products are made, at Metroflor’s satellite offices throughout Asia, and at accredited, third-party laboratories spread around the world. Product certification is just as extensive: Metroflor holds a coveted platinum NSF/ANSI 332 certification – a first in the resilient flooring industry – for its Aspecta Five products, as well as Gold certification for Aspecta Ten (minus Crescent Oak) and Aspecta One.
Metroflor has initiated Life Cycle Assessments that will further explore the environmental impacts of its products. This will inform the company on additional improvements it needs to make to further reduce its environmental footprint in manufacturing. There are always new goals the company strives to achieve in transparency and sustainability, especially as new tools are developed and additional environmental data is gathered. Such aspirations will allow Metroflor to maintain its position as a leader in the resilient flooring industry.