NZ's Flooring Waste Was Going to Landfill. Jacobsen Spent 6 Years Fixing That

Every year, thousands of square metres of flooring are ripped up from offices, hospitals, schools and commercial buildings across New Zealand — and the vast majority of it ends up in landfill. It's a quiet but significant waste problem that most people in the construction and fitout industry simply accept as the cost of doing business.Jacobsen didn't accept it.In this episode of Progress in Practice, host Nick Morrison speaks with Cynthia Tang, General Manager of Marketing, Technology and Impact at Jacobsen, about Re.form — the company's product stewardship and takeback program that has been running since 2020. Re.form collects discarded vinyl, carpet tile and rubber flooring from Jacobsen customers and sends it back through the supply chain to manufacturing and recycling partners in Europe, where it is processed back into new flooring products. It is a genuine closed loop recycling solution — and one of the most ambitious sustainability initiatives being run by a New Zealand flooring business today.But the story of Re.form is not just about what the program does. It's about what it took to build it.Over six years, Cynthia and the Jacobsen team have navigated a remarkable set of obstacles: convincing architects, specifiers and flooring contractors to change their on-site habits; discovering that PVC vinyl is classified as hazardous waste under export regulations, making it illegal to ship overseas in its flooring form; spending nine months searching for a granulating partner who could process the PVC into raw material pellets before export; applying for Auckland City Council waste minimisation funding to purchase their own granulator; and then, just as that funding was approved, being approached by an unexpected granulating partner who changed the plan entirely.The entire business rallied around a program that, by Cynthia's own admission, was never designed to be a money-making or customer acquisition tool — just the responsible thing to do.Key topics covered in this episode:What Re.form is and how the closed loop flooring recycling system worksThe supply chain partners behind the program — Tarkett and Shaw Contract — and their global recycling infrastructureThe role of architects, specifiers and flooring contractors in making product stewardship programs succeedHow the Green Star framework and shifting client expectations are driving greater demand for end-of-life flooring solutionsThe hazardous waste export regulation challenge that nearly stopped the program in its tracksThe nine-month search for a PVC granulating partner — and the unexpected resolutionThe real-world logistics of running a takeback program: sorting days, bag management, freight efficiency and quality controlHow Jacobsen prioritises reuse before recycling, including partnerships with Habitat for Humanity and projects like the Auckland Airport temporary terminalThe science and challenge of closed loop recycling — including a visit to Tarkett's R&D facility in SwedenAdvice for other New Zealand and Australian businesses looking to launch their own takeback or product stewardship programsRe.form is proof that sustainability leadership in business is rarely a straight line. It takes resilience, creativity, whole-of-business commitment.To find out more about Jacobsen and the Re.form program, check it out here. To learn more about Go Well Consulting and how we work with businesses on sustainability strategy and reporting, visit our website.