Increasing resource efficiency by floor refinishing

Today IVL, The Swedish Environmental Research Institute, published a report confirming that refinishing hardwood and vinyl flooring surfaces offers more than 75% reduced carbon footprint compared to floor replacement and a 90% savings in resources (transport, electricity, consumables etc.)

Report Summary:

Lengthening the service lifetime of products before being disposed of could be an effective solution in achieving reduced impact on climate change and improved resource use. In the flooring industry, floor refinishing has been part of the business model for a long time. But floor owners and other stakeholders in the industry do not always recognise that floor refinishing is a viable alternative to installing new flooring. This results in that flooring, which technically can be refinished for continued use, is often disposed of and replaced by new flooring. If the share of refinished flooring is increased, the impact on climate change and resource use is expected to be significantly improved.

The result of the project demonstrates that floor refinishing significantly reduces emissions of carbon dioxide and improves resource use compared to production and installation of new flooring. It is also shown that several barriers exist in the flooring industry which prevent floor refinishing, but that enhanced knowledge and information sharing in combination with new circular business models and maintenance services could help in overcoming those.

Biddle Sport offers Schools the circular business model, starting with refinishing your tired old floor to bring it back to “new” and then contacting you in 2 years time & quoting to reseal with 1 new coat to maintain the finish. This way the flooring is kept looking good and performing well consistently throughout its extended service lifetime. Good for you and the environment.

Below are 2 examples (before and after photos) of refinished wood and sports vinyl flooring at Schools. We reseal all the wooden floors at the first school and hope to reseal the sports vinyl floor in 3 years time. Contact us and we will share our knowledge on refinishing your floors.

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The full report is available to view here