PRESS ROOM

Armstrong Develops New BioBased Polymer for Hard Surface Flooring

CHICAGO, IL, November 6, 2007 – Armstrong™ Commercial Flooring announces the development of BioStride™, a breakthrough patent-pending polymer that contains rapidly renewable, U.S.-grown plant ingredients, resulting in reduced reliance on petroleum and fossil fuels. BioStride provides the same or better performance attributes as vinyl polymers, yet has 13 percent biobased content by weight.

“With BioStride, Armstrong has made a giant leap forward with the integration of rapidly renewable ingredients which reduces reliance on limited resources such as petroleum and fossil fuels,” said Frank J. Ready, president & CEO, Armstrong Floor Products. “We believed it was essential to  maintain our focus of developing a more sustainable, long-term solution because it was the right choice for both the environmental and practical benefits to end-users.” 

The first application of BioStride is in MIGRATIONS™ BioBased Tile™, a new category of tile which provides enhanced environmental attributes and combines them with enhanced performance, classic looks and affordability. MIGRATIONS BBT contains 10% preconsumer recycled content to reduce virgin material usage. 

Compared with conventional composition flooring, for example, a 20,000 square foot installation of BBT saves energy and natural resources equivalent to 72 gallons of petroleum. Like all Armstrong resilient products, MIGRATIONS is FloorScore™ certified to meet California Section 01350 for low VOC emissions. BBT contributes or complies with at least four LEED® credits and qualifies for several other key industry environmental rating systems.

Sustainable Technology with A Practical Side

With its new MIGRATIONS™ BBT™ product, Armstrong launches a biobased polymer product, made in the USA, which actually performs better than its traditional tile counterpart even with more green attributes. 

When Armstrong’s research began, the industry was going in different directions, from focusing on recycled content to non-PVC products. The science – and the resulting end-price to the customer – did not meet Armstrong criteria.  “We wanted to appeal to a large, rather than a small niche of buyers to make a true sustainable option available to virtually everyone,” said Jeffrey Ross, Ph.D., AFP Innovation Manager & Director of Quality.  The Armstrong R&D research team, corporately funded with millions of dollars in equipment and manpower, looked at corn, soy beans and castor oil; they looked at all kinds of ideas, including specially designed bacteria, and the corn polymers used to make bio-degradable environmental packaging.  However, there were challenges either in maintaining quality and consistency or in manufacturing the floors en masse.  Armstrong scientists turned toward a renewable material which redirected focus on developing a biobased polymer.

“Decisions such as these demonstrate Armstrong’s determination to remain the industry’s most trusted resource for environmental information and sustainable products,” said Ross.  More than a century ago, Armstrong ceased discarding post-industrial cork waste and began recycling it—first into corkboard insulation, and soon afterwards into the green product on which its modern flooring business was built: linoleum.

“Linoleum gave Armstrong the experience of making flooring using only natural materials. As Armstrong looked for new products by looking at alternatives to linoleum, we found many global raw material resources we could apply to our portfolio of products,” said Ross.

Armstrong Green Legacy

With 145 years of experience, with a proven track record of performance, quality and sound environmental practices, BioStride™ is the latest demonstration of the company’s commitment to progressively raising the standards for the industry, and creating ever better products and tools that make it easy for its customers to go greener, said Ready. “Green operations and products aren’t new for us, but they continue to be the focus of our development efforts.”

As a founding sponsor of the United States Green Building Council, and a member of the Canadian Green Building Council, Armstrong recognizes the importance of sustainable design. Armstrong participated in the development of the LEED® Green Building Rating System™, which promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability: site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

On the operations front, at facilities worldwide, Armstrong has long demonstrated its commitment to reducing its environmental footprint—through recycling, emissions reduction, ISO environmental certifications, and many other continuous-improvement measures. Few programs demonstrate its success more clearly—while serving to inspire designers, architects and builders—than Building 701 at the Armstrong headquarters in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Building 701 earned the highest possible certification granted by the U.S. Green Building Council — USGBC LEED EB Platinum. It is only the sixth building ever to do so, and the first outside California. Building 701 showcases the environmental performance that’s possible when a vigorous commitment is made to healthy, sustainable building features.

“Armstrong’s commitment to environmental sustainability is resolute: To provide products and services to our customers that enable them to reduce the environmental impact of the buildings they create,” says Ready.  “Building together and making the best use of our many inspiring choices, we and our customers can uphold an important heritage of sustainability, and help preserve for coming generations the natural world we’ve inherited.” 

For more information and tips, visit www.armstrong.com or call 1-800-527-5903.

About Armstrong

Armstrong World Industries, Inc. is a global leader in the design and manufacture of floors, ceilings and cabinets. In 2006, Armstrong’s consolidated net sales totaled approximately $3.4 billion. Based in Lancaster, Pa., Armstrong operates 39 plants in 10 countries and has approximately 13,000 employees worldwide.  For more information, visit www.armstrong.com.

All trademarks owned by AWI Licensing Company or Armstrong Hardwood Flooring Company.  FloorScore is a trademark of The Resilient Floor Covering Institute.  LEED® is a registered trademark of USGBC.

Contact: Michele Zelman Cherry Leaf Communications mjzelman@cherryleaf.net phone: (718) 859-6766

Contact: Carlene Moloney General Manager - Direct Consumer & Trade Marketing cfmoloney@armstrong.com phone: 717-396-5579 fax:  717-396-5029