Adhesives are, or have been up to now, critical in floorlaying. Starting with an overview from Jim Palmer, Technical Officer at the British Adhesives & Sealants Association (BASA), we review some of the key issues around sustainability and adhesives in flooring.

The concept of re-use or recycling is not a new topic for adhesives and sealants manufacturers; however, it is vital to address these issues at the initial stage of any new design process, by involving the manufacturers of the flooring and adhesive systems, the installers, and de-installers (always considering the efficiency of the installation), and the recyclers, to achieve a successful implementation that addresses all stakeholder concerns. It is not simply about the disassembly but requires a close collaboration between the parties to implement a sustainable solution for all.
Whilst it may seem like a good idea to have unbonded flooring to ‘avoid’ issues with recycling, it is better to have a holistic approach which considers all aspects of the installation, for example, to avoid any unnecessary use of energy during the in-service phase.

For example, the bonding of parquet and LVT (luxury vinyl tile) floorings to the screed of underfloor heating systems with an adhesive instead of a floating installation has been investigated in two recent studies. It has been demonstrated that the flow temperature of the underfloor heating system could be reduced by about 2-3°C with bonded installation. The lower flow temperature leads to an energy saving of up to 2.6 % compared to the corresponding floating installation resulting in heating energy savings of about 2-3 %. Sustainability of all resource materials is receiving increasing attention in developing legislation, especially in the construction sector. Furthermore, the lifetime of products and assemblies in the construction sector is considerably longer than in many other sectors.

Adhesives and sealants manufacturers have been creating more sustainable solutions for decades and contribute significantly to a broad range of application areas. Different product groups within the flooring sector present different challenges in respect of recycling and long terms durability. The long-term cost of carbon should not be sacrificed to an overly simple view of recyclability and debonding. Furthermore, all installations have performance requirements that must be met and as already indicated, all actors in the supply, installation and end of life/repair/renovation stages need to work together to maintain the value of the raw materials involved, avoiding loss to landfill, or energy recovery by incineration, which must be considered as a last resort.
The solution is to have flooring installations that can be ‘disassembled’, however, there must be value in that disassembly. If the individual components are not actually re-used, and still end up in landfill, then this is the worst possible outcome.

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