Louis De Poortere has launched the Ecorugs 2024 collection, a 100% recyclable rug that can be returned for reuse or recycling.

The Ecorugs 2024 collection from Louis De Poortere brings projects a 100% recyclable rug and the system to ensure that it finds its way to a product that’s truly circular. The entire Louis De Poortere rug collection is now constructed from 100% recyclable polyester, replacing the cotton and chenille previously used. Every part of the rug is made with polyester, including backings and the label, so it can be recycled without separation.

Polyester has been chosen by Louis De Poortere for its ability to replicate the look and feel of cotton and maintain the integrity of its designs, as well as its ability to be easily recycled within current technologies. Polyester can be recycled without loss of quality, so it can be used within the production of new rugs, rather than downcycled into lower grade products. The use of polyester allows Louis De Poortere to build a circular product model.

Bert Schollier, Production & Development Director, explains more: “Polyester is easy to recycle within current technologies and it had all the right attributes to maintain the look, feel and quality for which Louis De Poortere is known. However, there is a problem. Most of the recycled polyester used today in the clothing and textile industry is downcycled from plastic bottles, but this isn’t a sustainable long-term solution.

“In order to reduce reliance on virgin polyester and develop a circular model that worked, we needed to find a way to control the recycling and make sure we had recycled polyester from our own products – that is the condition for true circularity after all. So, alongside transforming our entire rug collection to a 100% mono-material construction, we’ve also introduced Take Care as a programme that sets up a way to easily return the rug to us at the end of its useful life.”

Take Care uses a QR code on the label to set up a collection and return journey that sees unwanted rugs returned directly to Louis De Poortere, rather than enter recycling schemes where the products might well be downcycled like energy recovery. On arrival, Louis De Poortere will assess each rug for condition and either select reuse through second-hand sale, or recycling into raw material for a new Ecorug. Take Care makes the process easy and that’s essential to Louis De Poortere’s model of circularity for its rugs. 

Louis Dryon, COO, Louis De Poortere, says: “Circularity is essential to reducing reliance on resources, but it is much more than a case of simply finding materials that make this possible. You must also look to establish systems that make recycling back into new product possible today. Currently, there simply isn’t the recycling infrastructure to guarantee that polyester will be recycled rather than downcycled or incinerated, so we knew we had to find a solution that was easy for end users to embrace and which put us in control so we can call our products circular. Take Care is our answer to this.”

Louis De Poortere’s entire rug collection has been transformed into the Ecorugs 100% recyclable construction, so from now on every rug supplied takes the company one step closer to create a completely circular product. Currently, 20% of every rug uses recycled PET (downcycled plastic bottles) with the manufacturer setting a target of 100% recycled content in 2025.

For further information, Louis De Poortere, www.louisdepoortere.com, info@depoorterelouis.com