In the fourth of our series of interviews with senior people in the flooring industry, we talk to Keith Hall, Technical and Sustainability Manager UK of international carpet manufacturer, Desso. Creating carpets that capture fine dust, absorb sound, make things safer for people with impaired vision – as well as being kinder to the environment – are just some of the steps being taken by Desso. Here we find out just how far the carpet industry has come and what’s in store for the years ahead.
Ed: First question, Keith, have you always been in the carpet business?
KH: Yes, since I left school at 16. In Kidderminster, where I’m from, carpet manufacturing was by far the dominant industry and it was a natural move for many of us as we entered the world of work.
Ed: And how long at Desso?
KH: About 34 years and before that ten years with Brintons, a traditional woven manufacturer.
Ed: What does your job at Desso involve?
KH: It’s very varied. I provide a lot of support to contractors and specifiers in the field, who encounter snags on site, and provide help and advice on what they need to do with our products or how to get the best finish. I also deliver CPD seminars to architects and other specifiers to advise them about the flooring options that are available, including the technical solutions that carpets can provide. I’m also responsible for meeting the sustainability targets that the company has set itself in the UK, following the guidelines within a ‘Cradle to Cradle®’ company.
Ed: What is Cradle to Cradle®?
KH: Being a Cradle to Cradle® Company means going beyond what most people conceive of as sustainability.
It’s about finding a way for companies and people to prosper, while taking account and contributing to the planet’s ecosystem and finite resource. It’s specifically designed to tackle three global challenges we face: toxicity in materials; climate change; resource scarcity. It is also about making sure everything we do has a positive impact on human health.
Ed: How does this manifest itself in your products?
KH: Looking forward, Desso has been redesigning its products looking closely at materials and components we use to make our carpets in the first place; such as materials that have zero toxicity and can be readily recycled themselves.
For example, through our ‘Take BackTM programme, according to Carpet Recycling UK figures we recycled approximately 38% of all the UK’s recovered carpet tiles that had reached the end of their useful life in 2015, separating material components and putting them back into new carpet tiles, or finding other alternative solutions to landfill.
Ed: You also mentioned that part of your job was to promote the technical solutions that carpets can provide, can you give some examples?
KH: This usually involves elements of minimising the impact on Health and Wellbeing, but could also include providing market specific solutions. These may range from things like high fire retardancy and ultra light weight carpets for aeroplanes – or carpets with excellent acoustic performance to absorb sound – for instance, in a recording studio, library or teaching facility. We can also engineer carpets with matching thermal performance for areas with underfloor heating, which is a growing trend in the UK.
In some cases the reflective properties of the carpet can be important, either to create a particular ambience in a building or when used on stairs to assist people who are visually impaired – in line with DDA requirements.
We’ve also developed the DESSO AirMaster® range, which is designed to capture fine dust particles in the air, like the microscopic ones you might see floating in a sunbeam, to create a healthier indoor environment. By capturing the particles more effectively when they settle, DESSO AirMaster® takes the number of potentially harmful particles out of the breathing zone. It’s likely to be beneficial in assisting asthma sufferers and Desso has worked closely with Asthma UK to understand the potential benefits better.
Ed: So what changes can we expect to see in the carpets we buy in a few years’ time?
KH: Two main drivers for us are the global environment and continuing to create healthy solutions and working environments for people who use our products.
That means more work on the Cradle to Cradle® concept, ensuring that we are able to minimize or eradicate the need for new raw materials by increasing volumes of recycled carpets that have reached the end of their life.
We’ll also be working to make sure our carpets are entirely free from any form of toxins (even if they are permitted by legislation), and with products like DESSO AirMaster®, we can actually make a positive contribution to people’s health and wellbeing.
More information on Desso can be found at desso.co.uk