Armstrong Ceilings has manufactured the first mineral ceiling tile to win Cradle to Cradle status.

A mineral fibre tile from Armstrong Ceilings has become the first in the world to be granted Cradle to Cradle® certification.

Armstrong’s Perla OP 0.95 tile, which contains 53% recycled content and is 100% recyclable, won Basic accreditation after several months of assessment. Plans are now in place to redesign the tile to achieve Silver.

The Cradle to Cradle programme has been developed to meet growing customer demand for sustainable products, with certification already becoming a requirement for building projects in America and parts of Europe.

It is designed to help specifiers and clients through the maze of environmental claims, providing a transparent mechanism to compare the sustainability performance of competitive products.

It differs from other sustainable certifications in that the process begins even before a product is manufactured. Products are developed specifically for closed loop systems in which every ingredient is not only safe but beneficial, capable of either biodegrading naturally and restoring the soil or to be fully recycled into high-quality materials for subsequent product generations, again and again.

Products are assessed on five criteria – material health, material re-utilisation, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship and social responsibility* – and awarded one of four levels of certification, from basic through to platinum.

Armstrong has long recognised the importance of protecting the environment and using resources responsibly, developing ceiling systems that improve space illumination, reduce noise and enable the use of thermal mass for more efficient heating and cooling of the building environment.

In addition, it has also been systemically reducing its environmental footprint by careful raw material selection and reformulation, life cycle analysis, reducing pollution waste and increased use of renewable energy and rebalancing of existing supplies to lower-carbon alternatives.

Armstrong already operates pioneering recycling schemes for own-brand and competitor ceiling tile off-cuts and tiles at the end of their life and is the only ceiling tile manufacturer in the UK to do this free of charge. These old tiles are made into new tiles - a process that uses less energy than processing virgin raw materials.

And now it is also a leading sponsor of Park 20/20 – the world’s first mixed-use Cradle to Cradle working environment. Built alongside Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, it includes the experience centre, a meeting point of know-how and skills that acts as a Cradle to Cradle showcase.

The company’s Perla OP product performs acoustically to Sound Absorption Class A and is highly light reflective (85%). It is available in five tile sizes and four plank sizes.

Armstrong’s senior segment manager, sustainability (Europe, Africa and Middle East) Jeremy Sumeray said: “ This is now driving our Cradle to Cradle development programme and will provide a blueprint for sustainability improvements across all Armstrong ceiling product ranges. We are the first global ceilings manufacturer, and one of only a relatively small group of companies worldwide, to have accepted the challenge.

“The programme will impact every area of our business, from supply chain to product design and development, operations, testing, and sales and technical support. We will not achieve the objectives overnight but to maintain involvement in the C2C programme we must demonstrate continued progress towards the ultimate goals.”