Yes, Laminate Flooring Can Be Environmentally Friendly!

When we make what sounds like such an outrageous claim, you might be reminded of this commercial that touts the benefits of high-fructose corn syrup as a “natural” alternative to sugar. If you know how HFCS is produced, you would dismiss this claim as absolutely preposterous (and don’t get us wrong, it certainly is) but we don’t represent the Corn Refiner’s Association nor do we represent any specific segment of the flooring industry other than the customer. To say that HFCS is made from corn and is natural is simply intellectually dishonest. We’re not going to tell you that laminate is a natural flooring product because it’s simply not. It might be composed of natural materials, but the resulting product is far from natural. However, that does not mean that it is precluded from being considered an environmentally friendly alternative to hardwood flooring.

Do Laminate Flooring Save Trees?

Consider this. Since the aesthetic part of laminate flooring is actually a photographic appliqué layer designed to look like hardwood instead of being the real thing, no trees have to be cut down in order to produce these laminate planks. But what about the inner high-density fiberboard core? That comes from wood, right? Well yes, of course it does. But many manufacturers take this HDF from wood by-products that would otherwise be thrown out, so they are conserving as many resources as possible by reusing material rather than chopping down trees to create the inner core.

Laminate Flooring Can Replicate Different Designs!

Laminate flooring can also be made to look like virtually any wood out there, so if you’re a fan of exotic hardwood, you won’t have to feel guilty about flattening an entire forest to get the look of Brazilian cherry hardwood in your living room. In addition to hardwood replications, there are several laminate products now that replicate the beauty of the natural stone. Laminate that looks like stone is becoming increasingly popular, as many natural stones are quite expensive compared to the laminate flooring material used to replicate stone aesthetics. While natural stones can be reused, many people do not recycle their old stone flooring material, which over time depletes the fixed natural resources that provide for stone flooring. Laminate flooring is more easily recyclable, as the planks can be compressed back into HDF for new laminate flooring planks without having to harvest additional wood from forests.

Special Edition Laminate Floorings.

In particular, the Bruce Gardenstone collection replicates fine quarried stone so well that it is difficult to tell the difference between this laminate collection and actual natural stone at first glance. Another laminate flooring option to check out is the Columbia Cascade Clic collection, which embodies the natural aesthetics of slate tiles in a more affordable format. While laminate is certainly not a natural product, the way in which it is produced, in addition to its potential recyclability, can be considered an eco-friendly flooring option in the ranks of cork, bamboo, and hardwood that are produced in vertically integrated manufacturing strategies. Stay informed by keeping up with us, and celebrate Earth Day by considering the many eco-friendly flooring options that are available at your disposal.