SOURCE: North West Rubber
(Abbotsford, BC, May 5, 2021) — North West Rubber has recently released the results of third-party testing which highlights the effectiveness of the SportFloor® Stamina line of recycled rubber performance flooring in helping to protect sports complex athletes, visitors, and staff from the risks of microbial contamination.
North West Rubber commissioned Westech Systems FM Inc. to conduct and report on a third-party independent cleaning audit with the goal of assessing how easy it was to clean and disinfect NWR SportFloor® recycled rubber flooring.
As part of the testing protocol, Microbial contamination levels were measured through ATP (adenosine triphosphate) audits before cleaning and after cleaning.
The study concluded that cleaning and disinfecting of the SportFloor® recycled flooring resulted in nearly a 100% elimination of the microbial contamination (99.5%).
Paul Flinton, NWR VP Marketing, comments: “It is well understood that in commercial facilities, bacteria left on surfaces can become a point of cross contamination between athletes and staff on site which can lead to sickness and infections if not thoroughly cleaned. The exceptional cleaning efficacy of our SportFloor® Stamina product is rooted in NWR’s vulcanization technology”. Vulcanization involves the moulding of rubber crumb under high heat and pressure to form strong cross-links that create a resilient and non-porous antibacterial rubber surface. “Vulcanization is a technology that NWR has been practicing and perfecting for over 50 years since our inception in 1968”, adds Flinton.
The third-party independent cleaning study concludes: “NWR’s Stamina rubber flooring is vulcanized, resulting in a smooth and non-porous surface finish that repels moisture and thereby restricts microbial growth”.
Flinton adds: “We have routinely conducted laboratory testing of moisture absorption for current and new products as a proxy for microbial contamination. The addition to our testing protocols of this third-party independent cleaning study reinforces further our own existing data sets around the efficacy of SportFloor® Stamina in preventing and eliminating microbial contamination”.
“We expect the trend towards specifying low maintenance sports flooring with compelling hygienic benefits such as those offered by North West Rubber SportFloor® will continue for the foreseeable future”.
North West Rubber Ltd. is a leading manufacturer and distributor of LEED-certified recycled rubber solutions in North America. Since 1968, North West Rubber (NWR) has been providing specialty rubber flooring products to retail, commercial, and industrial customers around the world for a variety of applications, including recreational, playground, agricultural, traffic safety, trailers, and truck bed mats. For more than 50 years, NWR has partnered with governments, industry stewardship groups, and other environmentally conscious organizations across North America to reduce the number of scrap tires that are landfilled or incinerated, saving well over 115 million scrap tires to date. The company is headquartered in Abbotsford, British Columbia and has manufacturing locations in Abbotsford, British Columbia; Brantford, Ontario; Houston, Texas; and Beijing China.
The SportFloor® brand is a premium rubber flooring line for professional and recreational athletic facilities. Manufactured from recycled and virgin rubber, SportFloor® is specifically designed to withstand the most demanding surface needs. SportFloor® offers customization capabilities to fulfill the branding and design requirements for a variety of applications. SportFloor® has been installed in many professional sports stadiums, arenas, and recreational facilities across North America.
For more information, please visit www.northwestrubber.com or contact Jen Brandsma at jenb@northwestrubber.com.
