Sustainability

Learn more about the following programs and how HMTX is associated with each.


mindful MATERIALS (mM)

The premier digital library for making informed product choices.

mindful MATERIALS is not a certification, but rather a free digital library for the building products industry to house and access sustainability and transparency information. Information is uploaded by manufacturers and verified by a team of qualified reviewers before it is admitted to the library. The mM Library serves as a rich, objective resource for users to evaluate products against a baseline of sustainability criteria.

Products from various HMTX business portfolios are listed in the mM Library, including those from the Aspecta, Metroflor and Teknoflor brands that bear an assortment of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), Health Product Declarations (HPD), Declare labels, Living Product Challenge certifications and FloorScore certifications.

In addition to being a multi-year sponsor, HMTX also supports mindful MATERIALS through its volunteer efforts. Arthur Clarke, HMTX’s Director of Sustainability, serves as Chair of the mM Portal Working Group and is a regularly contributing member of the mM Content Working Group.


Health Product Declaration® Collaborative (HPDC)

Setting industry standards for ingredient disclosure and hazard screening.

HPDC‘s Health Product Declaration (HPD) Open Standard provides the building products industry with consistent criteria for evaluating product content and health information. This not-for-profit member association is committed to transparency and openness in the reporting and specification of building products, and its HPD standard is consistent with those of other leading product transparency standards, including the International Living Future Institute’s Declare standard.
Metroflor, Aspecta and Teknoflor are proud members of the HPDC, while HMTX Industries has been a longstanding sponsor. At the product level, Aspecta Ten was the first rigid core / multilayer modular flooring product in the world for which an HPD was published. HPDs are available for all Aspecta products, many of the most popular Teknoflor products and a majority of Metroflor products, including those under such brands as Engage Genesis, Engage Inception, Metroflor LVT, Metroflor LVT with Attraxion and Verçade Wall Fashion.

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

Building prosperous, healthy and resilient communities through environmentally and socially responsible practices.

The USGBC is a membership based not-for-profit organization that promotes sustainable building practices. Perhaps best known for establishing the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system, USGBC is also the engine behind Greenbuild, the world’s largest green building conference and expo. USGBC’s global membership engages in education, outreach and advocacy to advance the organization’s vision.

HMTX Industries is a Gold Member with USGBC, thereby providing substantial financial support to its many initiatives. HMTX also supports USGBC by offering products that help contribute to certification under LEED. This is achieved through an extensive portfolio of products that carry Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), Health Product Declarations (HPD), Declare labels, FloorScore certificates and Indoor Advantage Gold certificates.


Living Product 50 (LP50)

Leading by example and advocacy.

Metroflor, Teknoflor and Aspecta are stalwart LP50 Leaders.

The LP50 is a collaboration of more than 50 building product manufacturers working together to transform the built environment into one in which the use of healthy products with full ingredient transparency becomes the new standard. Through the efforts of its members and the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), the LP50 has reinvigorated conversations between manufacturers and members of the architect and design (A&D) community, while also initiating new conversations with suppliers and with building owners.

This collection of conversations, known today as “Closing the Transparency Loop,” began in 2012. That year, many prominent A&D firms sent letters to individual manufacturers, asking them to commit to transparency by providing information on the health and environmental impacts of their products. In April 2018, the LP50 sent its first response letter—a letter that reflected the LP50’s collective output over the course of six years: a staggering number of material ingredient reports and environmental impact reports, and more than a dozen certified Living Products. The letter also conveyed the shared experiences of the LP50: Despite making substantial progress, they had received little feedback since first taking up the charge for transparency. Thus, the LP50 asked A&D firms to make commitments of their own, including a commitment to specify transparently disclosed and optimized products.

In April 2019, more than 40 A&D firms signed on to the Materials Pledge Letter (MPL)—a number that leapt to 73 firms by November 2019. In the letter, the signatories expressed their appreciation for the efforts and progress that had been made by the LP50, and then pledged to:

  • Continue to ask for transparency and better products;
  • Give preference to products that support Human Health, Climate Health, Ecosystem Health and Social Health and Equity; and
  • Help to support a Circular Economy by reusing buildings and materials, and by designing for material efficiency, long life and perpetual cycling.

Since the time that the initial Materials Pledge Letter was sent, HMTX Industries and its Family of companies have continued to work closely with the LP50 to better align the goals of manufacturing and A&D. HMTX has also continued to lead the resilient flooring industry in sustainable and transparent products, programs and practices.

Read our response to the Materials Pledge Letter.


The International Living Future Institute (ILFI)

Mission: To lead the transformation toward a civilization that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative.

Founded on a vision of a “living future” in which restorative ecosystems enable communities—and the biosphere as a whole— to thrive, ILFI is a transformative force in the building industry. To accomplish its mission, ILFI has created programs that have moved the sustainability conversation from the fringes to center stage—programs such as the Living Building Challenge, the Living Product Challenge, Declare and JUST.

HMTX Industries deeply believes in the ILFI mission and vision. In 2019, we became the first Global Angel Sponsor—a level of support that has continued into 2020. Many of our products carry ILFI certifications and designations.


Clear and informative “nutrition labels” for building products.

Declare labels answer three key questions about building products:

  1. Where was the product made?
  2. What’s in the product?
  3. What happens to the product at the end of its life?

Thus, while transparency is very much at the heart of Declare, there’s more to it. Product ingredients disclosed through Declare are screened against the Living Building Challenge (LBC) Red List, so staff members at ILFI can assign the correct status to each product: LBC Red List Free, LBC Red List Approved (formerly LBC Compliant) and Declared.

Declare 2.0, the latest version of the standard, was introduced by ILFI on February 1, 2020. Among the many changes made to the standard, Declare labels now clearly indicate if and how a product aligns with three LBC imperatives: I-13 Red List (based on the aforementioned label status), I-10 Interior Performance and I-14 Responsible Sourcing. Imperative I-14 does not pertain to any of the resilient flooring products offered by HMTX Industries and its Family of companies, given that it is aimed at products solely or significantly composed of such natural ingredients as wood, metal, rock and stone. However, Imperative I-10 pertains to any interior building product that has the potential to emit Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), including the many resilient flooring products offered by HMTX.

HMTX Industries and its Family of companies are strongly committed to promoting transparency in the resilient flooring industry and have published Declare labels for all Aspecta products, many of the most popular Teknoflor products and a majority of Metroflor products including those under such brands as Engage Genesis, Engage Inception, Metroflor LVT, Metroflor LVT with Attraxion and Verçade Wall Fashion. The Declare labels published for these brands reflect the fact that they comply with LBC Imperative I-10 Interior Performance, as they meet the requirements of CDPH Standard Method v1.2-2017 or CDPH Standard Method v1.1-2010.

HMTX’s commitment to transparency encompasses both traditional resilient flooring products and those of the latest generation. As such, Aspecta Ten was the first rigid core / multilayer modular flooring product to receive a Declare label. To this day, few of our competitors have received Declare labels for such products.


A nutrition label for socially just and equitable organizations.

JUST is not a certification program; it is a transparency platform for organizations to disclose their operations, including how they treat their employees and where they make financial and community investments.

The JUST program invites organizations to voluntarily report on a variety of operational and employee metrics in order to receive recognition. Organizations proudly place the JUST label on websites, packaging and marketing materials to demonstrate their commitment to social justice and equity. The label is essentially a report card that rates the organization’s performance per policies and provided data across 22 key metrics.

Under the leadership of HMTX Industries, both of the company’s main factory partners in China have achieved the JUST label—a first for any company in China (and all of Asia). HMTX has also achieved a JUST label for the entire scope of its U.S. operations, encompassing all eight facilities in Connecticut, Georgia and Wisconsin.


The most aspirational sustainable product certification in the world today.

The International Living Future Institute’s Living Product Challenge (LPC) is a rigorous standard that provides a framework for manufacturers to create products that are healthy, give back to the environment and inspire others to engage in sustainable and equitable practices. The requirements of the LPC are categorized under twenty imperatives across seven petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health + Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty.

Teknoflor Naturescapes HPD, a polyurethane sheet flooring product derived, in part, from castor oil, was the first hard-surface flooring product in the world to receive Petal Certification under the LPC, achieving 16 out of 20 imperatives.