CFA CEO Highlights Key Sustainability Themes and Priorities for the Industry’s Future

The Contract Flooring Association (CFA) Guide to Sustainability is a key resource for contractors, procurers, specifiers and architects alongside manufacturers, distributors and retailers, designed not just to inform but to drive practical change across the flooring industry.

In his introduction to this year’s Guide to Sustainability, CEO of the Contract Flooring Association Richard Catt highlights key themes and priorities for the industry’s future:

‘Each year our industry demonstrates a growing commitment to addressing the challenges of climate change and resource efficiency. Encouragingly, the response from across the flooring sector continues to strengthen, with manufacturers, contractors, distributors and recyclers all taking meaningful steps forward.

‘However, we also recognise that the journey towards a truly sustainable and circular flooring industry is far from complete. That is why this Guide remains such an important resource for sharing ideas, highlighting best practice and, hopefully, inspiring further action. Last year we captured the mood of the industry with the theme of Collaboration.

‘Feedback from across the sector was clear: no single organisation can achieve the level of change required on its own. Effective waste collection, reuse, take-back and recycling schemes all depend on collective effort. The same is true of emerging initiatives such as product passports, which will allow recyclers to identify materials and process them appropriately at end of life.

‘For this year’s Guide we build on that thinking with a new theme: Scaling Sustainability. Collaboration has helped establish many promising initiatives; the challenge now is to move from pilots and isolated successes to solutions that operate at scale. For sustainability to become the industry norm, those solutions must be practical, measurable and commercially viable.

‘As in previous editions, the Guide brings together thought leadership, industry insight and contributions from across the supply chain. We are also pleased to feature more case studies and updates from the UK Sustainable Flooring Alliance, whose work on take-back schemes, stewardship models and the TakeMyFlooring initiative is helping the industry move towards more circular outcomes.

‘Ultimately, scaling sustainability is our shared challenge and our shared opportunity.’

The CFA Guide to Sustainability 2026–2027 will shortly be released via the CFA downloads page.

To view or download the CFA Guide to Sustainability 2025–2026, click here.