What exactly does it mean to be a communication manager in the age of sustainability? How can you deal with more rigorous restrictions on a daily basis while providing value to both your company and your customers?

“So, thank you for having me on this episode, really a pleasure. To describe Tarkett, I really want to take you back to our brand vision, which is called human conscious design. And for us, human conscious design is really a holistic way of doing business that is good for both people and the planet. For us, it always starts with design actually, knowing that in the design phase is really where we can determine the effect of our floors and the effect that we want our floors to have is of course a positive impact both on human and the environment basically.”

Can you provide an overview of your role as communication director and how sustainability fits into your responsibilities, and what motivated your company to embrace sustainability?

“So, I’m marketing director for carpets and workplace in EMEA for Tarkett. And basically, when it comes to sustainability, it’s really at the core of our strategy. So it’s fully embedded into all of our initiatives and as a result of course it’s also translated back into our marketing activities.

If we focus on the part around Desso carpet tiles, circular economy and Cradle to Cradle have really been a core part of our strategy for more than a decade going back to 2008. And if we then take the broader perspective of, let’s say, the industry in which we operate, in the building and construction industry, we of course know that around 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions is coming from the industry and also 60 to 70% of total waste. So for Tarkett as a global floor manufacturer of course we believe as a company that we have a key role to play in this aspect. And that also means that we feel that we have a responsibility to do more with less. And what we mean by that is really to design, produce, sell and also recycle in a way that generates less carbon and less waste.”

Can you share some examples of successful sustainability communication campaigns or initiatives that your brand has implemented?

“Yes, so for Desso carpet tiles actually we have just recently launched our Beauty of Circularity campaign. Although I refer to it as a campaign, it’s actually much more than that because it’s really, it really describes the overall sustainability strategy for Desso carpet tiles in EMEA. And with that strategy we really try to take holistic approach to sustainability. Doing more with less at every stage of the process and that starts with design of the carpet tiles to the materials that we use, but also how we choose to put the circular journeys in place at the end of a product’s life basically.”

Can you share more details about your approach to communicating sustainability and circularity, and if you have any success stories?

“Yes, so basically our approach to circularity is focused around three key areas: design, materials and the circular journey.

Design: We have all of our design decisions are really rooted in Cradle to Cradle principles which as I mentioned earlier we have been applying since 2008. But it also means that actually all design decisions we take start really with the end in mind. We want to make sure that we design our products in such a way that they are designed to have the proper functionalities of a carpet tile, of course they need to have aesthetic appeal, but they also have to be designed for circularity basically.

Materials: This is of course where we are very keen to limit the use of virgin raw materials also when we design our carpet tiles and when we look at the material choices for that. And this is of course where we also collaborate across industries and where partnerships in that sense are a very important element of that as well. And just to give one example, actually we are collaborating here in the Netherlands with local drinking water companies who are de-calcifying the water in order for it to become drinking water that actually tastes nice. And that waste stream from their side actually has become an important recycled stream that we actually use in our carpet tile EcoBase backing basically.

Circular Journey: It is really for us about recognizing as a company that we feel responsible for the full life cycle of the products that we make basically. And to that end we also have, we have both a carpet recycling center here in the Netherlands at our plant, but we also have our take-back and recycling program called ReStart actually. And through that program actually we ensure that when carpet tiles have had their useful life, let’s say, for hopefully many years, 10 to 15 years in the market, that they actually come back here and we are then able to separate the yarn and the backing without any loss of quality etc. and making sure basically that those material flows can start again into a new cycle basically.”

How do you ensure that your sustainability communication is authentic and transparent, avoiding greenwashing while building trust with your audience?

“It’s about being transparent, it’s about saying what you do and do what you say. And that sounds very simple but it really is how we try to approach our communication in every step of the process. Maybe just to give you an example of how we have translated this also in this latest Beauty of Circularity campaign that I mentioned earlier on, we have actually started to communicate what we call the circular carbon footprint. We demonstrate to our customers how much carbon we can save together over the full life cycle of a product if we ensure that we design the product, we choose the right kind of materials and we also bring it back together for recycling. We basically give all of this information is third party verified through our environmental product declarations. And this was a really important element for us to also give the assurance to our customers that it’s not just us saying that this is the circular carbon footprint that we can deliver, but it’s actually backed up by third party data and third party verification.”

What challenges have you faced in communicating sustainability and how have you overcome them?

“So it is as I briefly mentioned it is definitely challenging to ensure you get through to customers. They are faced with a lot of marketing stories, a lot of claims on a daily basis. So with this latest campaign, the Beauty of Circularity, we really wanted to demonstrate our approach to circularity for carpet tiles in a clear and concise manner. And we actually had the help of a UK based futures research agency called FranklinTill who have really helped us to, let’s say, take a step back and think about how we can streamline how we communicate the story in a less technical way.”

How do you tailor your sustainability messages to resonate with different segments of your audience?

“We are mainly focused our messages really on architects and designers and end users as being the key decision makers. And this is really our core focus when it comes to our messaging. But of course in addition we also have marketing teams based in all the different countries and there of course there is also a tailoring of the messages that takes place towards other key stakeholders like for example installers etc. to really support that sales process.”

As the last question, based on your experience, what advice or recommendations would you give to other brands?

“I think it’s really important to understand that circularity as a company is something that you cannot do alone. It’s really a shared responsibility. Any achievement that we have when it comes to sustainability is really also an accomplishment that we can share either with our customers or with our suppliers like Aquafil for example or other partners that we work with.

And mentioning Aquafil, Aquafil is an incredibly important partner for us when it comes to the recycling of yarn actually. So indeed as I mentioned when post-consumer carpet tiles come back from the market via our ReStart program and they get separated here in our carpet recycling center, it also means that the yarn actually is sent back to Aquafil for regeneration into new ECONYL® yarn. And this is really when it comes to circularity and when it comes to understanding and realizing what this means, this is the type of partnership that really proves that circularity is only something that you can truly achieve together.”