What’s the secret behind our key role in the flooring industry? Our focus on quality and innovation for the future! By continuing to improve our product design and performance we keep a careful eye on sustainability. Find out more about our efforts in circularity, energy saving and emission control.
Unilin Group – the company behind Pergo – has always been a driver when it comes to circularity. This began back in 1960, when we first sourced flax straw – a bio-based waste product from the flax industry – and used it to produce particle boards. Ever since, our focus has remained on renewable raw materials: meanwhile ranging from flax straw to recovered wood.
A future-focused approach means avoiding the use of new raw materials as much as possible. Which is why the wooden core of Pergo laminate and wooden flooring is made entirely of recovered wood. This wood waste product is collected from sawmills, sustainable forest management processes, roadside maintenance … and would otherwise end up in the incinerator or on the rubbish dump.
Trees play an essential part in protecting the climate and biodiversity, so they must be treated with care. For this reason, slow-growing species, such as oak, are used only in the top layers of our wooden flooring. Wherever possible, for example in the core of our laminate and wooden flooring, we use either wood from fast-growing tree species (such as spruce and hevea) or a high-density fibreboard (HDF) made of recovered wood.
With our wooden Sandhamn range, we have even gone a step further, by creating unique designs that feature small sections of wood that would otherwise go to waste. In this way we really make the most of every tree.
Sustainable forest management is about harvesting trees with a focus on protecting our planet and biodiversity, and preventing trees from being cut at a faster rate than they are replaced. In the process of forest management, certain trees, such as small or bent ones, obstruct the development of better trees and are harvested to keep forests healthy. Such wood, known as thinned wood, is perfectly suitable for flooring and we use it as much as possible. By sourcing wood from sustainably managed forests, we can be confident that our activities don't contribute to deforestation.
Pergo vinyl flooring is currently made from 3 key components. Chalk, as an abundant material, and PVC which we recycle internally. However, about one quarter of a Pergo vinyl floor comprises ‘virgin’ or new PVC, which is made of chlorine (common salt) and ethylene (crude oil). At this moment we are unable to avoid the use of this precious and non-renewable raw material, so we work very hard to ensure that our vinyl floors will last for a very long time, up to 25 years.
We never stop wondering how we can improve the sustainability of our flooring. We start early, during the design phase, and keep asking the right questions to optimise the sustainability of our floors. Which chemicals cause obstacles in recycling? Which alternative raw materials could be suitable? How could we make our products last even longer? Our R&D team’s daily mission is to find better answers to these questions and continue our efforts and improvements in recycled flooring.
We are extremely proud to be the first producer ever
to receive the Nordic Swan Ecolabel for a floor
Challenging objectives have been set in the Paris Agreement in an effort to limit the impact of global warming. Unilin Group – as Pergo’s parent company – is committed to doing everything possible to contribute to the most ambitious scenario in the agreement, namely a maximum temperature increase of 1.5°C by 2050 to limit the impact of global warming. We are being guided in our ambitions by Science Based Targets – a third-party initiative promoting best practices in this important activity. It is essential to take big steps by 2030, which is why we’ve started with very ambitious short-term goals, followed by a more gradual path towards net-zero emissions in 2050.
Unilin Group – the company behind Pergo – has invested in two biomass plants to transform wood dust and non-recyclable wood waste into green energy. This energy is used to operate our own manufacturing processes. Any left over is then distributed to the general public. We also use energy generated by windmills and solar panels. Thanks to these efforts, about 50% of our group’s production is already powered by renewable energy sources.
Almost all of our Belgian production units in the Unilin Group are involved in the European Energy Efficiency Programme. The key aim of this programme is to save as much energy as possible by ensuring that all energy-saving opportunities are identified and implemented, and by monitoring and managing daily energy consumption. The other main goal is to maximise the use of renewable energy.
We spend most of our time indoors, which means it’s essential to maximise the air quality inside. All kinds of things can affect air quality, from ventilation, candles and cleaning agents, to the materials used in your interior, such as flooring. We therefore take our responsibility to produce low emission flooring. By manufacturing your flooring in-house as much as possible we know exactly which materials are involved and can keep control and manage the emissions of any harmful substances.
VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are organic chemicals with a high vapour pressure at room temperature. One VOC for example is formaldehyde, which is found naturally in flooring components. Thanks to our in-house production, we can control and limit the emission of VOCs. Therefore, the formaldehyde emission of our laminate and wooden flooring is negligible and 10 times lower than the EU standards. When it comes to our vinyl flooring, there is no formaldehyde detected. This is demonstrated by our A (wood) A+ (laminate, vinyl) and M1 (laminate, vinyl) labels.
Pergo naturally complies with all environmental and health legislation and standards. However, we don’t stop there. As a key player in the flooring industry we also take our responsibility and our future seriously. This is the reason why we have also worked even harder to voluntary achieve additional high standards.
Nordic Ecolabel
Highly regarded Scandinavian ecological label for products that meet high requirements for environmental standards throughout the life cycle.
EU Ecolabel
Label of environmental excellence awarded to products and services meeting high ecological standards throughout their life cycles.
M1
Proof that our flooring products do not release toxic substances and are odourless.
A & A+
The top category emission regulation certificate, serving as a recognition for very low emissions.
EPD
With our environmental product declaration we show our commitment to provide precise, reliable and comparable information on the environmental performance of our laminate and wood products.
PEFC
Globally trusted trademark for wooden products originating from sustainably managed forests.
Our environmental measures are defined to suit the product in question. Find out how we make our laminate, wooden and vinyl flooring.
