Living Lab Carpet develops circular solutions for the carpet industry

Every year, around 1,7000,000 m² (~1,200 tonnes) of textile floor coverings are installed in Belgium. After an average lifespan of about 10 years, discarded carpet usually ends up in landfills or incinerators (170 million m²!), resulting in high environmental impact and loss of valuable resources.

The Living Lab Carpet addresses this problem by developing circular solutions, including reuse, recovery and eco-design.

In collaboration with textile designer Leda Devoldere, product and interior designer Cas Moor and partner Material Mastery, several avenues are being explored for the reuse of various carpet forms. Both (post-)production waste, such as cuttings, production errors, surpluses and post-consumer material are thoroughly investigated to give a new circular destination. The various streams under consideration range from carpet tiles and broadloom carpet to carpets, bath mats...

Design and innovation organisation Material Mastery developed the awareness presentation for the KIOSK. The organisation brings together extensive experience and specialised expertise from various sectors, academic research and education and focuses on the role of materials within a circular economy.

The presentation in the KIOSK shows the literal size of the different residual streams. Within the project, a solution is sought for each cycle that textiles travel (from yarn, finished product to post-consumer).

From residual yarn at the beginning of the life cycle to unfinished carpet transformed into an acoustic panel-consumer carpet. The installation shows the effective flow and size of relevant cycle.

The actual results of the project will be presented at the WONDER Creativity Festival in Kortrijk in October in an impressive presentation.

Living Lab Carpet is a project of Designregio Kortrijk in collaboration with Material Mastery, Centexbel, Fedustria, Cobot, Weerwerk, Belysse, Balta and with the support of Vlaio and Flanders Circular.