Autoneum
(Source: Autoneum)
The carpet systems from Autoneum have a high content of recycled fibers. Thanks to an alternative backcoating (ABC) process, the carpets are now becoming even more environmentally friendly. By replacing the latex commonly used in standard backcoatings with thermoplastic material, the recyclability of carpets from Autoneum Management AG, Winterthur/Switzerland, at the end of product life is further improved.
Lightweight, textile-based carpet technologies such as Di-Light or Relive-1 significantly improve the environmental performance of carpets, as they consist of up to 97% recycled PET. Aside from that, they are around 20% lighter than conventional needlepunch carpets, thus contributing to lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from vehicles. In addition, needlepunch carpets are now even more sustainable thanks to the innovative ABC process, which uses a thermoplastic adhesive instead of latex in the backcoating.
Unlike latex, thermoplastic adhesives can be heated and melted down together with the carpet components made of pure PET at the end of the product life cycle, which facilitates recycling considerably. Furthermore, since the fibers of the thermoplastic mono-material are easier to open, carpet cut-outs can be reclaimed more easily, thereby reducing the consumption of natural resources as well as waste volumes and thus CO2 emissions.