Tarkett’s CERTIFIED Powerbond Soft Surface Flooring Wins 2023 Product Greenstep Award

Congratulations to Tarkett on winning the Product Greenstep 2023 Award!

The GreenStep Sustainability Awards program recognizes, promotes and honors organizations and individuals in the flooring industry for their stewardship, initiatives and accomplishments.

This is the first time that Tarkett has won a Greenstep Award.

Tarkett’s Powerbond® RS flooring is the world’s first soft surface flooring to be CERTIFIED asthma & allergy friendly®. It is a hybrid resilient flooring, meaning it combines the look and feel of carpet with the durability and cleanability of resilient flooring. Powerbond is manufactured with an impermeable backing and it is installed with chemically welded seams so provides a wall-to-wall moisture barrier to prevent mildew and mold. Furthermore, its low pile height means that dust and allergen can be easily removed. In testing, 95 percent of allergens were removed effectively with simple dry vacuuming..

We know that exposure to indoor air pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can potentially lead to exacerbation of asthma, allergies and other respiratory illnesses: Powerbond RS is made with low VOCs, including its pre-applied adhesive, ensuring the product installs quickly and contributes to healthy indoor air quality over the life of the floor.

“Tarkett is really proud of what we’ve done with health and wellness in our products,” said Roxane Spears, vice president of sustainability for North America. “The asthma & allergy certification is really one that helps end-users and designers know that the product is providing healthy indoor air quality. That is important to Tarkett. We have a lot of sheet vinyl and other things certified but we’ve never been able to get a soft surface product certified.”

With a history of 140 years, Tarkett is a worldwide leader in innovative flooring and sports surface solutions, with net sales of €2.8 billion in 2021. Tarkett have an impressive track record in developing flooring that prioritises the impact it may have on health and well being, and has expanded its CERTIFIED asthma & allergy friendly® to include the iQ^® Granit™ collection and the coordinating iQ^® Eminent™ collection.

We are so proud of our relationship with Tarkett and their commitment to healthier products. 

ASL Certification Standard for Textile and Resilient Flooring

CERTIFIED asthma & allergy friendly® soft flooring is evaluated using a selection of real allergens. In order for a soft flooring to be CERTIFIED, it must be possible to remove 75% of the allergen from the floor covering through standard cleaning.  It must also be possible to maintain low levels of airborne particles during the cleaning procedure: certification requires that allergen levels do not increase by more than 10% during the cleaning process. Additionally, certification requires that >50% of the allergen is captured by the cleaning system and not recirculated in the indoor environment.

To test VOCs, a sample of the flooring product is placed in an environmentally controlled chamber, where all of the VOCs released over 14 days are measured. The levels after 24 and 336 hours are recorded to make sure that throughout this time period the levels remain low. 

A floor covering submitted for Certification must comply, in all aspects, with the floor covering purchased by the consumer, including adhesives if appropriate.