Domotex 2020 – a blog from Adnan’s visit

“This year’s visit to Domotex was especially important for me to see developments in the carpet sector towards more sustainability in carpet design, design for recycling as well as more environmentally focused backing solutions. With over 1400 exhibitors from around 60 nations I was surely going to meet and learn from companies progressing down the sustainability path. What always amazes me about the show is the amount of companies exhibiting in the different halls and the amount of products they bring to the show (the carbon footprint of the show must be huge). However, as I only had one day to find out as much as I could, I was on a mission and needed to stay focused and plan my day.

Most of my time was spent in Hall 11 where a number of pre-arranged meetings booked with carpet manufacturers and suppliers were organised which was great as I walked out of one exhibitor’s space and almost fell into another’s. Last year I seem to have been constantly walking through the various halls trying to get around. 

My key findings:

• I was impressed with the number of companies thinking about more recycled contents within their products as well as helping to protect the environment;

• A couple of companies demonstrated their new range of carpets made from either recycled plastic bottles or single polymer PP ranges, which can be either turned back into plastic pellets and used in other industries or turned back into carpet or textile products.  Although some are involved and demonstrating their commitment to the cause, more can and needs to be done.

• I was interested in finding removable and recyclable backing solutions – however I didn’t find as many as I would have liked. Came across a couple where they had solutions from the primary backings which work with only PP products, but no necessarily complete backing solutions. I was encouraged to hear that for some companies this was the next stage in their development.

• It is always great to network and see existing members and create the awareness with new potential members. This year we received interest from as far away as India;

• Backed by EU legislation, the design for recycling concept is certainly getting the industry thinking about what other products they can develop and offer to the consumer, which is creating a buzz within the industry. 

It is always worth a visit, to see new developments and hear commitments towards sustainability from our European partners and UK based companies as well as, learning from the sector on what is currently achievable and what are the draw backs. Overall, it was long but successful day and according to my phone I broke all previous records and did just over 12,000 steps, for me that was another big achievement.”