PVC flooring, after a decade of negative growth and diminishing market share in USA, has shown some signs of revival in 2008. With growth seen in both residential and commercial sectors, sales increased to US$1.64 bln. PVC flooring is well positioned to continue to grow over the next couple of years, but uncertainty shrouds its growth beyond the time period. According to Darius Helm, until recently, public perception about the appearance of vinyl flooring has been negatively impacted due to issues about its appearance such as the glare of plastic, outdated looks and poor depiction of wood and stone. Despite advances in designs and technology, hesitation to accept the material continued to negatively impact its growth. The introduction of luxury vinyl tile and fiberglass backed sheet vinyl infused life in this sector, but growth continued to be stunted as PVC usage has been viewed negatively by environmentalists. However, the economic slowdown has brought relief to this sector as the housing crisis and credit crunch pushed many people to make decisions based on value. In this scenario, vinyl’s affordability, durability and long lifecycle gave it an upper edge over hardwood/ceramic. The top commercial sectors for vinyl are healthcare, retail and education- While retail sector has been witnessing a slump, healthcare and education remain strong. Education is expected to slow over the next couple of years, under the impact of tighter state budgets as also healthcare. According to the Resilient Floor Covering Institute, domestic vinyl business went down about 4% from 2006 to 2008 while the flooring market in general was down 18.7%. In 2002, 60% of vinyl consumption was in the residential market and 40% in the commercial market, but has changed to 42% share in residential sector as growing usage in healthcare and education contributes to growth in commercial sector. However, a turnaround in the economy could impact this market again, as the green movement accelerates when consumers get free from the constraints of debt, credit problems and job insecurity. Preference may be given to laminate because of its bio-based and recycled content, linoleum and bamboo. Vinyl flooring has two significant advantages over most flooring - low maintenance and a long life. A vinyl floor can last decades, thus reducing the environmental impact of replacement flooring. How green is vinyl? Any honest answer is conditional, because vinyl and the chemicals associated with its manufacture continue to be researched, and future scientific studies may reveal unknown information on vinyl use. In theory, vinyl flooring is well positioned to be a green product - being a thermoplastic, it can be re-melted, and it has the capacity to be reused without a loss of performance. However, there are substantial barriers to broad scale reclamation and reuse as vinyl floorings use stabilizers and plasticizers, calcium carbonate, and adhesives. Since the flooring is glued to the sub floor, it is difficult to separate the adhesives from the flooring. There is no uniformity to reclaimed vinyl because of the quantity of chemicals/additives used and there is no easy or cost effective way of extracting them. Calcium carbonate makes up about 80% of vinyl composition tile (VCT) and VCT accounts for about 63% by volume of all commercial hard surface flooring. Lack of infrastructure for vinyl flooring reclamation also shrouds this sector. As a precedent, the carpet industry that has faced similar hurdles has made considerable strides toward creating a greener product. The industry has found ways to recycle carpet - a heavily structured floor covering, often with several laminated layers. Techniques have been developed to separate the components and feed them back through the manufacturing process for direct reuse. Similarly, vinyl manufacturers have started using post consumer recycled content in the bottom layer of their vinyl products, where less purity is required. Also, many of the problems with vinyl reuse can be addressed by designing products for reclamation, like the carpet industry has been doing. Though several manufacturers have introduced new adhesive systems that use less adhesive and allow for easy reclamation, designing the vinyl flooring for reclamation is far more complicated. Armstrong is the biggest domestic vinyl producer in USA with a 40% market share and sales of about US$700 mln, split equally between the commercial and residential markets. Mannington Mills is the second largest vinyl player with a 17% market share and vinyl sales at US$300 mln. The other leading manufacturers of vinyl flooring in USA are Tarkett Commercial, Metroflor and Konnecto.