Case Study

modulyss

What are some of the key sustainability aspects of your business and certified products?

modulyss has a project-directed business model. Except for a few ‘stock items’, we produce on-demand, enabling us to prevent overproduction and losses. For our products, we have the same approach to reducing any losses. We continuously improve our products to reach the highest possible quality without using more materials than necessary.

Also, we use recycled materials where possible, including our own production waste, to further reduce the environmental impact of our products. Lastly, we have developed the ecoBack recyclable backing. Products with this backing can be disassembled, and the components can be recycled into new products.

Why did you choose to get GECA certification?

The GECA certification scheme is a very comprehensive certification program. It combines requirements related to consumer health, potential harm to the environment due to chemical substances, and specific circularity parameters and social impacts.

How important is certification to you and your customers?

Certification is a good way to communicate our efforts to reduce our environmental footprint. We are committed to our sustainability strategy and look for certification schemes that design their standards according to the same sustainability philosophy. Therefore, these programs are a confirmation of the goals that we have set for ourselves and encourage us to achieve them.

For our customers, I believe it’s very complex to compare different suppliers in terms of their sustainability performance. Being able to rely on a solid certification scheme takes that task away from them.

Did you have to make any changes to your products or services to obtain GECA certification?

There are some things that we needed to take into account, yes. However, these are mainly the consequence of different legal expectations in Australia compared to Europe.

What are the biggest sustainability challenges for your industry right now?

For the soft flooring sector, the end-of-life stage of our products is definitely a big issue. Good end-of-life processing techniques that can be applied at a large scale are still lacking. Carpet tiles, in particular, are a difficult task. A lot is happening right now in the field of designing for recycling and the development of recycling technologies.