Case Study Kroger Zero Waste

The Kroger Co. and the Armstrong® Floor Recycling Program

What happens to the old flooring in a renovated space is as important to Armstrong and increasingly to the customer, as the new floor with which it’s replaced. Such was the case with the recently renovated 30,000 sq. ft. Kroger Grocery store in Rocky Mount, Virginia, where thousands of pounds of Vinyl Composition Tile (VCT) was recycled through the Armstrong® Floor Recycling Program.

As one of the world’s largest food retailers, Kroger is committed to achieving ‘Zero Waste’ facilities. Suzanne Lindsay-Walker, Director of Sustainability, at Kroger, explains, “As part of this effort, we’re always looking for opportunities to reduce waste.” To help meet its corporate goals, Kroger began participating in the Armstrong Floor Recycling Program for VCT in 2012. Since then, Kroger has recycled over 2 million pounds of VCT through the program.

Kroger’s Lindsay-Walker notes that the closed-loop process is one of the reasons Kroger recycles its VCT. “By recycling VCT into new flooring products,” she said, “we are preventing material from entering the landfill and conserving resources.”

Closing the Loop

The Armstrong® Floor Recycling Program offers commercial building owners an alternative to traditional disposal and a flexible, end-of-life recycling solution for vinyl flooring products. What began as a Recycling Program for VCT has expanded into a comprehensive program that includes Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) and other vinyl flooring products. As LVT experiences double-digit growth in North America, because of product performance, appearance and ease of installation, product recyclability becomes increasingly important.

With popular wood, stone and textile looks, and more visuals available than ever before, Armstrong LVT is quickly becoming the flooring solution of choice for all types of retail environments. Amy Costello, Sustainability Manager, explains, “It is important for us to be able to provide sustainable end-of-life solutions for LVT, along with outstanding product design and performance.”

“Our products are designed with recyclability in mind”, explains Amy Costello. “Our closed-loop recycling program provides an endof- life alternative which helps conserve and protect natural resources, while reducing the environmental footprint of our products. To date, the program has recycled more than 6 million pounds of discarded flooring tiles. In addition to reducing our environmental footprint, Armstrong is helping the industry reduce their footprint by taking back and recycling competitors’ qualified products.”