Take a look at the minimaluxe interior of cyclist Florian Sénéchal
Discover the integration of Quick-Step floors in Sénéchal's minimaluxe interior, showcasing effortless luxury in every detail.
A groundbreaking recycling technology
A second life for laminate fibreboards with our breakthrough recycling technology
For decades now, we’ve been committed to keeping wood in circulation as long as possible. The best example can be found in the core of our laminate and wooden flooring, consisting of a HDF fibreboard which contains only recovered wood. With our world-exclusive, breakthrough recycling technology, we’re now going a huge step further, becoming the first producer worldwide that is able to recycle HDF fibreboards into new material..
Extending our wood’s life
Circularity is in our DNA. Back in the 1960s, Unilin – the group behind Quick-Step – introduced flax straw, a waste stream of residual loam from the flax industry, in the production of its particle boards.
Today, our HDF (High Density Fibreboard) – the wood fibre boards that form the core of our laminate and wooden flooring – contain only recovered wood. That’s wood collected from sawmills, sustainable forest management processes, roadside maintenance … that would otherwise be burned or discarded.
Breakthrough recycling technology
For years, we’ve been looking for a way to go even further in our circular ambition and give our wood fibre boards an extra life at the end of their lifecycle. Until recently, recycling HDF was impossible because the glue, which is used to bind the wood fibres in the boards, could not be ‘filtered’ industrially. As a result, the majority of these fibre boards ended up in the incinerator after an average lifespan of 14 to 20 years.
After much research and development, we’ve become the first company in the world to finally succeed in recycling HDF into new materials, such as the core of our laminate floors. With this revolutionary technology, we manage to double the lifespan of wood fibres, giving new trees the chance to grow and protecting nature by keeping CO2 locked in.
25% of recycled fibres by 2030
In the first phase, we’ll use our new technology to recycle internally produced material at our MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) and HDF production site in Bazeilles, France. Later, we’ll increase our capacity to recycle externally-collected fibre boards as well.
Our ambition is to replace at least 25% of Unilin Group’s raw material mix with recycled fibres by 2030. This would allow us to keep 380,000 tonnes per year of CO2 stored in the wood fibres that we give a new life with our technology.
Looking for a floor with a sustainable core made from recovered wood?
