Best Sustainable Gym Flooring Brands
What makes for a sustainable gym flooring or green gym carpet solution?
What factors need to be considered when choosing a durable green flooring tile or fitness room floors for a gym, fitness studio or health club?
Here we give you our gym consultant perspective on the available options by way of sustainable flooring, eco flooring, gymnasium flooring options and eco friendly flooring options. Choosing the ‘correct’ gym flooring is no simple task and there is no one size fits all answer.
So if you are in the market for home gym flooring, or commercial gym flooring, whether vinyl flooring or carpet tiles, read on to explore your options for fitness center flooring and home gym contexts alike.
Ecore sustainable vinyl flooring & rubber mat flooring for gym
Ecore is a US based rubber flooring company with an extensive range, a strong focus on sustainability and a Circular Economy approach that moves away from the industry-wide “make-use-dispose” linear economy model in favor of a closed loop that reduces waste, reuses and recycles materials.
For us, this brand is a clear leader in the recycled rubber flooring manufacturers game, not just for gyms but sports hall flooring material as well (such as indoor basketball courts).
As such, they work to recover rubber waste and turn it back into new products and materials.
Their rubber flooring tiles all use this transformed rubber - a solid example of sustainability principles in the gym flooring industry - as the base layer for rubber gym flooring and rubber tiles.
Ecore’s turn to a recycled rubber material means less demand for virgin rubber materials, while still providing the highest quality and characteristics of rubber. They also have a vinyl gym flooring range now.
This process also focuses on waste reduction, and at the end of the rubber’s life cycle Ecore recycles and turns it into another material once again. Wherever possible, we aim to support brands working with natural materials in this way.
Furthermore, the brand adopts an open-source model, showing other companies how it can be done, thereby helping to promote and develop additional sustainability efforts in the world of gym flooring and rubber matting generally.
This equates to shifting zero-waste responsibility from individual customers (be they gyms, or individuals) to themselves as a manufacturer of flooring solutions and rubber floor tiles, instead of passing on the baton at the time of purchase they retain responsibility for its end-of-life phase.
Looking for a eco-friendly flooring london or ideally in the US, Ecore could be your answer especially if you need shock absorption and slip resistant tiles.
Tarkett eco friendly commercial flooring mats for gyms
Tarkett have what they describe as a Human-Conscious Design pledge to create sustainable vinyl flooring and sports surfaces that are good for both people and planet. They work directly with customers to provide healthy gym flooring materials.
As a brand, Tarkett are especially strong in the gym floor, group exercise room flooring and indoor sports court flooring, based on our experience with their products.
Through scientific scrutiny and “radical transparency” their ReStart program transforms used material into recycled flooring, thereby emulating Circular Economy principles of collecting, sorting and separating, recycling, then adding value by creating new recyclable flooring products.
This process, in turn, preserves natural resources, reduces waste being sent to landfill and lowers the company’s carbon footprint.
Within the operations of the company, Tarkett aim to optimize job site waste management and guarantee the traceability of collected off-cuts.
This ReStart program is available for their Omnisport and Linosport range of “endlessly recyclable”products. In particular, the Omnisport range is an example of sustainable gym flooring done well.
These products are phthalate-free and biocide-free. It can be phthalate-free because the product line is designed with phthalate-free plasticizers that have been approved for use in young children’s toys and food packaging while the biocide-free part comes from the removal of antimicrobial treatments.
Tarkett also claim to exceed the strictest industry standards for air quality. Their products capture fine dust, which in turn drives down VOC emissions.
Both the Omnisports and Linosports ranges received the label Allergy UK Seal of Approval, which contributes to the prevention of allergy disease. Their vinyl floors with wood flooring finishes are a star product in our books.
Gerflor sustainable gym flooring & commercial gym mats
Gerflor is an American flooring, wall, and finishing group with a set of guidelines for its product design that follows a 11 step eco-design criteria covering the entire life cycle of its products.
Their goal is to manage their products' carbon footprints and integrate Circular Economy principles into the core of their business model.
The 11 guidelines are:
responsible purchasing of raw materials
use of renewable raw materials
energy requirement per m²
production scrap rate
load volume optimization
weight reduction per m2
adhesive-free products
VOC and volatile reduction
minimized use of cleaning products
recycled material in products and packaging
recyclability of products and packaging
A considerable part of this set of 11 guidelines is the collection and recycling solution they employ, recovering material for recycling at each stage of the product life cycle.
The company has set up two different systems to make the recycling solution work. One part of this is “The Second Life Programme” which is for recovery of laying offcuts and “clean” end-of-life products, such as glue-free REACH compliant items.
This program is a Circular Economy concept with the following steps:
collection, sorting, and recycling
grinding
granule recycling
incorporation of recycled material
“second life”.
This sustainable gym flooring production process creates flooring and wall products that are healthy and last a long time (avg. product life span of 25 years).
The second program they have uses their sustainable influence for other industries. It is called the “PVC Next Programme”, which transforms “soiled” end-of-life products such as glue-down items, items mixed with other materials, or those containing non-REACH compliant components. This program is more of a linear process in which waste is sorted and ground into granules for reuse in other industries.
Ecore’s 2025 sustainability plan showcases the positive effects they aim to have on the environment through their products and production processes, stating that by 2025 they intend to have 20% fewer carbon emissions, 10% of all their sales coming from bio-based products, 30% recycled content in their products, 35% of sales from adhesive-free products, and a total recycling tally of 60,000 tons of material.
Zandur sustainable gym flooring
Flooring plays a fundamental part in creating a healthy indoor environment, particularly indoor air quality.
Designers and architects need to be thinking not just about a flooring product’s performance in terms of acoustics and durability but also ongoing cleaning and hygiene, especially for workout flooring that generally takes a beating by exercise equipment.
Zandur have a range of gym flooring types for workout room flooring and they happen to be big on their healthy product certifications, leveraging the many benefits of using cork as a raw material for example while avoiding the use of natural rubber in favour of vulcanized rubber as a way to create a more circular, long-lasting and environmentally friendly flooring product.
As company founder robert McKee said on our podcast:
Our interest has never been to profit off of sustainability. It's always just to be sustainable, because it's the right thing to do.
Vulcanised rubber is completely sealed, making for an impenetrable surface while recycled rubber flooring made of countless tiny rubber chips held together by a urethane glue that then releases nasty toxic substances into the air of the gym is an inferior option for gym floor mats, rubber gym mats or indeed a yoga mat.
So for a truly sustainable gym flooring selection, better go with something like the Zandur cork-rubber flooring mix, possibly with different colour options for each of the various fitness zones on offer, complimented by an eco gym mats range on top for stretching areas.
PaviFLEX sustainable gym flooring
PaviFLEX is a Spanish gym flooring company with 35+ years in the industry producing flooring with non-porous, compact virgin rubber typically delivered in interlocking tiles or rubber rolls, as with all the best gym flooring brands.
All of their floorings are made with part virgin rubber and have elements of bacteria prevention, their new ECO line is the most sustainable option for gyms looking for an eco-friendly solution.
A few of the floorings that belong to the ECO line are “fitness Xtreme eco”, “fitness eco”, and “fitness PRO eco”, all available as interlocking rubber tiles.
These floorings are constructed using the recycled material from the other premium flooring lines PaviFLEX offer. This minimizes waste and provides a Circular Economy solution.
These gym floors are resistant to bacteria and inhibit the reproduction of microorganisms. They are free from formamides (which is a colorless liquid chemical), HPA’s, and are ‘vegan approved’. The construction of the final finishes mean the gym flooring tiles do not absorb water or sweat, thereby avoiding unpleasant odours and facilitating regular cleaning protocols in the gym.
PaviFLEX is also promoting its “low VOC” emissions status, essentially due to the absence of formamides and HPA’s in their products. The low emission certification complies with the requirements of the international regulation.
As Paviflex are geared up for smaller orders too, they are a candidate for a top slot when we consider our home gym flooring options. They also provide foam tiles for martial arts areas or movement spaces.
https://www.paviflexgymflooring.com/
Further Reading
Designing And Decorating A Luxury Home Gym: An Essential Guide
A Guide To Uk Purpose-Built Student Accommodation Gym Design
What it takes to be the Best Gym Design Company for Hotels, Resorts and Real Estate
Designing And Decorating A Luxury Home Gym: An Essential Guide By Biofit Luxury Home Gym Designers
Outdoor Gym Design For Hotels, Resorts, Offices & Residential Developments