Cradle to Cradle®, our compass for sustainable products
December 19, 2023 • 3 minutes reading
Unilin has recently become the proud owner of several Cradle to Cradle® Material Health certificates for a generous selection of panels and several laminate floors. Moreover, Unilin even holds the full Cradle to Cradle certificate for a number of subfloors. By obtaining such reliable and independent certificates, we are offering our customers transparent information on the sustainability of our products, enabling them to make conscious, sustainable choices!
Why Cradle to Cradle?
The Cradle to Cradle® certificate is a globally recognised standard that assesses product sustainability. Most eco-labels focus on a single aspect whereas the Cradle to Cradle® certificate does take the overall picture into account. The certificate evaluates products on their performance in five separate categories: material health, product circularity, clean air & climate protection, water & soil stewardship, and social fairness.
In other words, it doesn’t merely assess the sustainability of both raw materials and production, but also the health of the products themselves, their use and reuse and even the end of their life cycle. Everything has to fit, for man and environment.
But it doesn’t stop there. The Cradle to Cradle® Products Innovation Institute stimulates businesses to become ever more sustainable. You’ve obtained a certificate? Then you must demonstrate further improvement in the following years or the certificate is withdrawn.
Cradle to Cradle at Unilin
This broad view is ideal to focus our sustainability efforts. At Unilin we use the five categories as a compass for the development of our products. For instance, it’s about using the right recyclable materials, assessing the energy we need for the production process and how we treat water and air, ... By keeping sight of the overall picture, we strive for products that are sustainable from A to Z.
The result?
In 2022 Unilin obtained its first Cradle to Cradle® Material Health certificates. This certification is a standalone certificate that is only awarded to products that meet the material health requirements of the Cradle to Cradle Certified® product standard. These requirements stimulate manufacturers to avoid and limit the use of hazardous and toxic substances.
- In 2022 the raw and decorative chipboards of Unilin Panels were awarded the bronze C2C Certified Material Health CertificateTM .
- In 2023 we obtained this same certificate for our raw and decorative MDF panels, raw HDF panels and Clicwall.
- In 2023 Unilin Flooring also obtained its first bronze C2C Certified Material Health CertificateTM for several laminate floors.
- In 2022 some of our subfloors received full Cradle to Cradle Certified® certification (silver).
And there is more in the pipeline: full Cradle to Cradle® certification for all panels and HPL by 2025. We also continue to work on the products that received the bronze C2C Certified Material Health CertificateTM. We are pulling out all the stops to make those products even more sustainable. After six years we must obtain at least a silver certification for all our certificates. And every three years the material health assessment must be repeated to demonstrate the progress of our optimisation strategy.
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