Advisory Panel insights: navigating the hybrid product challenge

Great to catch up with our Advisory Panel yesterday. It's always valuable to bring together diverse expertise from across the flooring supply chain as well as design, recycling, environment, product stewardship and engineering — their counsel helps shape how we approach the scheme's operations.

A key focus of our discussion was hybrid (or rigid core) tile products. They're popular in the market, but with no local manufacturing base, their composite construction makes end-of-life recycling genuinely complex — a single recycling pathway may not fit them all.

We talked through how our Circularity Support Fund can help unlock solutions in this space. The screenshot from the meeting shows earlier testing of a material separation process for hybrid products, with the separated calcium carbonate-rich core layer on the left and the top PVC wear layer on the right. The trial also removed the backing layer.

Thanks to our Advisory Panel for their continued guidance — watch this space for updates on our hybrid product work.

If you would like to collaborate on a hybrid recycling trial please get in touch with us at [email protected]