Solon, Ohio— Tarkett has promoted Roxane Spears to a new role, vice president of sustainability, for Tarkett North America. In this newly created position, Spears leads the organization’s sustainability initiatives across research and development, material optimization and corporate communications.
Spears joined the company in 2004 to align with Tarkett’s strong commitment to sustainability. While serving multiple sales and sales management roles for more than 15 years, Spears focused on educating her peers and customers on a holistic approach to sustainability. Her work will expand the sustainability conversation beyond the building so that it includes the wellness of the people in the space and the health of the planet, the company said.
“At Tarkett, we are committed to serving our customers through our eco-design capabilities and longstanding dedication to sustainability,” explained Fabrice Barthélemy, CEO of Tarkett. “We are deeply convinced that there is an urgency to shift models to preserve the world’s finite natural resources and capital. Our goal is to establish a circular economy in the flooring industry.”
The role is an important one for Tarkett, an organization that has established goals and commitments to eco-design for several decades. In the company’s 2018 Corporate Social & Environmental Responsibility Report, Tarkett shared several sustainability performance highlights achieved by the global organization, which include:
- Material assessment and transparency: 98% of its raw materials – representing more than 3,000 materials – are third-party assessed for their impact on people’s health and the environment based on Cradle to Cradle criteria.
- Flooring contributing to indoor air quality: 97% of its flooring has low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions, i.e. 10 to 100 times lower than the strictest standards.
- Healthy indoor spaces: by the end of 2018, 100% of its vinyl production sites in Europe, North America, Serbia and China use non-phthalate plasticizer technology in flooring.
- Preservation of resources: 70% of its raw materials do not contribute to resource scarcity, being abundant in nature, rapidly renewable or recycled.
- Recycled resources: 134,000 tons of recycled materials are used as raw materials, representing 10% of the volume of purchased raw materials.
- Flooring take back: 102,000 tons of flooring were collected from 2010 to 2018 through ReStart, Tarkett’s flooring collection program in Europe and North America.
- Climate change: Greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 8.5% in 2018 versus 2010. Twenty-seven percent of the company’s energy consumption comes from renewable sources, such as biomass, geothermal, solar or purchased ‘green’ electricity.
- Supporting communities: Through Tarkett Cares, the company encourages all employees to spend up to two days per year of their work time on charity initiatives. In 2018, 1,300 employees were involved in 170 initiatives and over €800,000 in contributions were made to community initiatives.
- Developing talents: Through Tarkett Academy, more than 23,000 professionals or students were trained in flooring installation techniques from 2012 to 2018.
“I am so proud to be part of this organization,” Spears said. “We don’t just say we are making a commitment, we take action on those commitments. I am passionate in my belief that we all must work together toward a common goal of healthier building materials and radical transparency. I look at sustainability as the story for all of us. We all need to ask what we can do as a company, and also what I can do personally. Small steps grow to large actions. I am looking forward to leading Tarkett in future innovation.”
