Ecorugs bring circularity to reality
Louis De Poortere has always been associated with beautifully crafted cotton rugs for homes with a collection that references design archives, culture and heritage. With the launch of Ecorugs and the Take Care programme, it will now be known as a pioneer in the retail flooring industry. For the first time ,customers will be able to return their rugs to Louis De Poortere for reuse or recycling.
To make this possible Louis De Poortere has moved away from cotton and now only makes its rugs from a 100% recyclable construction. Importantly, every part of the rug is made from the same material, even the label can be recycled. Alongside, it has set up the Take Care programme that makes it easy to return the rug directly to Louis De
Poortere so it can control the recycling process.
The 100% polyester construction (currently with 20% recycled content) has been chosen for the material’s easy recyclability and because it stays close to the look and feel of the cotton that it replaces. Polyester can also be recycled without loss of integrity, meaning that Louis De Poortere can turn it back into a new rug without any degrade in design or quality – important in delivering a circular product.
Bert Schollier, Production & Development Director, explains more:
“We have taken the decision to make our rugs circular, where
the product can be recycled back into itself time and time again, so it was important to find a material that allowed us to do that
with existing recycling technology. Even more so as we’ve set a target of seeing a transition to the first 100% recycled rugs in 2025.
Polyester gives us that opportunity, while still being able to manufacture rugs that uphold our design and quality standards.”
While there are other ‘recyclable’ rugs on the market, these are commonly returned to household recycling points where there isn’t the infrastructure to ensure they are returned to new product. They are often downcycled into lower grade products or incinerated for energy recovery. Louis De Poortere has created Take Care to solve this problem. Once the rug has reached the end of its useful life for the customer, they simply scan the QR code on the label and Take Care continues its journey back into a new rug. Louis De Poortere’s entire rug collection has been transformed into the Ecorugs 100% recyclable construction, so from now on every rug sold takes the company one step closer to create a completely circular product.
T +32 56 393 393 www.louisdepoortere.com
