Tarkett to Present ReStart® Award at Greenbuild 2013

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio, Nov. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Tarkett, provider of the world's most integrated high-performance flooring systems, announces the winners of its annual ReStart™ Award. This year's award will be presented to the participants of the Nationwide Children's Hospital project in Columbus, Ohio, who returned a total of 53,170 pounds of flooring for recycling throughout the duration of the project. The award will be presented in the Tarkett/Johnsonite^® booth (#2807) during the 2013 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Philadelphia on Wednesday, November 20 at 4:00 p.m. 

Tarkett supports eco-innovation from processes to products and is dedicated to eliminating landfill. The Tarkett ReStart Reclamation and Recycling Program reclaims samples, products and installation waste. Each year, the ReStart Award is presented to the architect, designer, building owner, contractor/installer, and/or distributor whose project has successfully diverted the largest quantity of flooring from landfills using the ReStart Program. This year's winner, Nationwide Children's Hospital, is one of the largest and most comprehensive pediatric hospitals and research institutes in the United States.

Melodia Homogenous Vinyl Sheet and Granit Safe-T Sheet Vinyl flooring from Johnsonite, the commercial arm of Tarkett, were selected to balance the aesthetic, functional and environmental objectives for the project. When describing the facility's design strategy, Alisa Pinciotti, senior interior designer for Nationwide Children's Hospital, said the goal was to create an ageless and timeless look that used images from the natural environment to distract children and their families from the stress associated with being in the hospital.

A key component of the facility's interior was a comprehensive and colorful flooring design, consisting of arcs and curves. Senior Vice President and Interiors Manager Kristin Ledet, with FKP Architects in Houston, noted that the complex design, developed in conjunction with New York-based Ralph Applebaum Associates, required a dedicated team working together to bring the vision to life - and to ensure it was done in a sustainable manner.

According to Ledet, "Participating in the ReStart program during this project was incredible. It made me more conscious of not only how the patterns and designs were being put together, but also where the product scrap was going. Hospitals are often driven by metrics, and to be able to show them hard data on how recycling was beneficial for Nationwide and has been helpful during the product selection phase for other projects."

Don Brickweg, Vice President, Commercial Sales at CDC Distributors, Inc., a Johnsonite master distributor said, "We worked closely with Tarkett and the design team to get their product specified. Even during the design process, we knew based on the design that there would be a lot of waste. The owner wanted to know if it would be possible to recycle the waste. Our long partnership with Johnsonite helped simplify the process and made it easy with ReStart."

The installers, Continental Office Environments, had similar concerns about waste. Garry Ruick, President, Architectural Products at Continental Office Environments recalled, "We determined in advance, by building a project mockup, that there would be a large amount of waste involved because of the custom shapes and designs used in the flooring." 

Not wanting to send clean uninstalled product to the landfill, Commercial Office Environments and the construction manager, Turner Construction Company, worked with Johnsonite to participate in the ReStart program.  Adds Ruick, "Waste was picked up three days a week. The program was incredibly well orchestrated.  Tarkett and CDC Distributors made everything really easy. We collected scrap into large boxes and took it back to the warehouse and the distributor coordinated the pickup."

According to Diane Martel, Vice President, Environmental Planning and Strategy for Tarkett, "ReStart allows building owners and specifiers to make environmental responsibility a practical part of the way they do business. Often it is costly to remove waste from the job site but with ReStart they are getting a massive amount of flooring job scrap off the site at no additional cost, while minimizing the impact on the environment."

For more information about the ReStart program or Johnsonite products, visit www.tarkettna.com.

About Tarkett
Tarkett is a global leader in innovative and sustainable solutions for flooring and sports surfaces. With a wide range of products including vinyl, linoleum, carpet, rubber, wood & laminate, synthetic turf and athletics track, the Group serves customers in more than 100 countries worldwide. With almost 11,000 employees and 30 production sites, Tarkett sells 1.3 million square meters of flooring every day, for hospitals, schools, housing, hotels, offices, stores and sports fields. Committed to sustainable development, the Group has implemented an eco-innovation strategy and promotes circular economy. Tarkett net sales of 2.3 billion euros in 2012 are balanced between Europe, North America and fast growing countries. Since January 2007, Tarkett has been jointly owned by the Deconinck family (50 per cent) and private equity funds affiliated with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (50 per cent). Tarkett's North American headquarters are in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. For more information about Tarkett global, please visit www.tarkett.com. To learn more about the company's North American commercial flooring solutions, including Johnsonite and Tandus Centiva, visit www.tarkettna.com and www.tandus-centiva.com.

SOURCE Tarkett