- 5 min reading time
The Blue Angel for resilient floor coverings
What is meant by resilient flooring?
Resilient floor coverings are available in different variants, for example as planks, slabs and tiles or also as sheet goods. They are also available as click systems for particularly easy installation. The category of resilient flooring includes mainly the following types:
- Linoleum
- PVC flooring
- Elastomeric coverings (rubber or caoutchouc)
- Cork flooring
Due to their diverse underlying materials, there are no overarching commonalities among these types of flooring. Also with regard to their areas of application, resilient floor coverings differ in part significantly. You can find out more about the differences and similarities in our article "What are the differences between PVC, vinyl and linoleum floors?”.
Areas of application and classification of resilient floor coverings
To make it easier for consumers to select the right flooring for their particular application or area, DIN EN ISO 10874 provides a classification system for the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. It enables a quick comparison of products with the greatest possible transparency:
Living | Load |
Class 21 | moderate: rooms with low usage, such as bedrooms. |
Class 22 | normal: rooms with medium-heavy use, e.g. living rooms and entrance areas |
Class 23 | strong: rooms with intensive use, such as living rooms and entrance area. |
Commercial / Object area | Load |
Class 31 | moderate: areas with low and/or intermittent use, such as hotel rooms, individual offices, conference rooms |
Class 32 | Normal: areas with medium-heavy traffic, such as hotel, individual offices, classrooms and small stores. |
Class 33 | Strong: areas with heavy traffic, such as open-plan offices, multi-purpose halls, schools or department stores. |
Class 34 | very heavy: areas with very heavy use, such as department stores, multi-purpose halls, ticket halls or airports |
Industrial | Load |
Class 41 | moderate: rooms in which work is performed predominantly in a seated position, with occasional vehicle traffic, such as electronics or precision mechanics workshops |
Class 42 | Normal: Areas where work is performed primarily while standing and with vehicular traffic, such as storage areas. |
Class 43 | strong: industrial areas, including warehouses and production halls |
What is the argument against the use of resilient flooring, for example, vinyl?
In contrast to the table above, which provides transparent and well-structured information on which floor covering is suitable for which application, this form of transparency is unfortunately still lacking in the market, particularly with regard to the ingredients used:
Since there is no official and ordered labeling obligation, consumers find it enormously difficult to make a sustainable and well-founded purchase decision in today's diverse range of products, such as designer and vinyl flooring. For decades, criticism has repeatedly focused on the use of harmful plasticizers - some of which have serious consequences for human health. Health -, as well as the difficult disposal and almost impossible recycling of vinyl floors at the end of their life. Further, detailed information on possible risks when buying a vinyl or design floor can be found at here.
How can consumers protect themselves?
First of all, it is advisable to pay attention to high quality when buying a resilient floor covering. This includes consciously looking at the country of origin of the respective products: Floor coverings, especially those made of vinyl, that are not manufactured in the EU are still likely to contain the harmful plasticizers that ensure that resilient flooring delivers on its promise - to be resilient. In some cases, the process of manufacturing is even associated with human rights violations (Forced labor) linked.
If you are looking for orientation in the jungle of offers for resilient floor coverings, you should therefore definitely focus on the application of sustainable quality seals and eco-labels. But what are they? Ultimately, it is hardly possible for consumers without prior research to identify those that are free of greenwashing and the like from a veritable flood of seals and certificates. Industry and interest groups issue their own labels, which have no real significance or proactively provide information about the background.
We would like to support you here and report to you in detail about a meaningful and sustainable eco-label that you can rely on: the "Blue Angel".
What is the "Blue Angel"?
Der Blaue Engel ist seit 1978 das Umweltzeichen der Bundesregierung und bietet Ihnen somit Orientierung beim nachhaltigen Einkauf, da er direkt am Produkt angebracht wird. Durch seine Unabhängigkeit besitzt er eine hohe Glaubwürdigkeit und setzt anspruchsvolle Maßstäbe für umweltfreundliche Produkte und Dienstleistungen. Nur Produkte, die Umwelt und Gesundheit wenig belasten und zudem eine hohe Gebrauchstauglichkeit und Qualität besitzen, erhalten die begehrte Auszeichnung.
In the context of resilient floor coverings, the Blue Angel award guarantees that the product does not contain any harmful plasticizers and is overall low in solvents and harmful substances.
The underlying criteria are continuously reviewed and developed in this context. In this way, companies are required to make their products increasingly environmentally friendly over time. Over 12,000 products and services have been awarded the Blue Angel.
Who awards the Blue Angel?
- The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) is Owner of the Blue Angel eco-label.
- The experts of the Federal Environmental Agency elaborate the high standards and criteria for products and services and continuously adapt them to new developments and findings.
- The Jury Ecolabel is the independent, impartial and honorary decision-making body Błękitnego Anioła. Składa się z 15 członków z różnych branż, stowarzyszeń i organizacji.
The RAL gGmbH is the Testing and Marking Office for the Blue Angel. It concludes the contracts with companies and service providers who want to label their products with the Blue Angel.
What does the Blue Angel certify?
The Blue Angel has already been awarded more than 20,000 times since 1978, in many cases for everyday products: from household appliances to paints and varnishes, heating systems, shoes and pest control products, and even resilient floor coverings, just about everything is included. Foodstuffs and medical products are excluded from certification, as these are based on different standards and benchmarks.
General certification criteria
The Federal Environment Agency (UBA), as one of the players in the background, draws up product group-specific award criteria that are made transparently available to the public at all times. Scientific (own and external) studies, publications and market research serve as the basis for these criteria. Compliance with the guidelines and criteria is a prerequisite for certification with the "Blue Angel" eco-label. And these are by no means to be underestimated.
For the evaluation of compliance, a holistic approach is always taken - from production and use to disposal and recycling at the end of the respective product life cycle. This serves to identify truly relevant influencing factors on environmental friendliness and sustainability in order to reduce or even avoid them in the long term.
Points that are looked at very closely here include:
- Energy consumption
- Emissions
- Resource Conservation
- health aspects and consequences for the human organism
- Recyclability
- fair manufacturing conditions and other social aspects
What are the award criteria for the Blue Angel?
It is not only the Federal Environment Agency and the other organizations and players behind the Blue Angel that would like to support you, the consumer, in gaining as transparent an impression of our products as possible - we at CLASSEN would like to do the same. That is why we are presenting to you here the criteria on the basis of which our CERAMIN© floor coverings have been awarded the Blue Angel eco-label:
What does the Blue Angel explicitly look for in resilient floor coverings?
- Materials and materials which have low environmental impact
- Strict limits for emissions
- Strict regulation for recycled materials
- Exclusion of hazardous substances, such as carcinogenic substances or substances with lasting negative effects on bodies of water
- Avoidance of substances that are harmful to health and the environment, e.g. through " Strict regulation of flame retardants
- Exclusion of the use of PVC
- Exclusion of carcinogenic N-nitrosamines in natural materials, e.g. in rubber
- Strict regulation of plasticizers (phthalates)
- Compliance with legal safety requirements
- High serviceability
- Umweltfreundliche Verkaufsverpackungen
You can download the complete award criteria here view
How sustainable is the Blue Angel?
Since the criteria on which the individual products are based are reassessed at regular intervals of around three to four years, it can be assumed that all products that have already been certified will become increasingly sustainable as the criteria become stricter. In addition, the award is based on a holistic view of the entire product life cycle - manufacture/production, product lifetime and, at the end of the chain, disposal and sustainable recycling in the sense of the circular economy. The decision-making body of the Environmental Label Jury guarantees the independence of the testing process and the neutral definition of the criteria.
Is the blue angel really trustworthy?
The Federal Environment Agency is the official holder of the eco-label. This means that, first and foremost, no commercial enterprises with their own objectives are involved. The decision-making body of the Environmental Label Jury also guarantees the independence of the testing process and the definition of the criteria - and thus also increases trustworthiness. In the context of resilient (plastic) flooring, PVC and harmful plasticizers also have no chance of Blue Angel certification from the outset.
How is the Blue Angel controlled?
The independent Environmental Label Jury determines the product groups and service areas for which the Blue Angel is awarded. It discusses and decides on the respective award criteria, which have previously been drawn up by the Federal Environment Agency. The jury members are not bound by instructions and are impartial; membership is honorary.
Collections
Now that you know how to recognize - among other things - the quality and sustainability of resilient floor coverings, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce our CERAMIN© floor coverings. They have all been awarded the Blue Angel as well as the Eco-Institut label.
