Methods and systems for flooring material recycling

A method of recycling one or more polymers from a flooring material comprising:

• cutting flooring material into portions that provide substantially complete contact between the flooring material and a solvent;
• subjecting the flooring material portions to a solvent to dissolve an adhesive backing thereof;
• contacting the flooring material portions with a mechanical disruptor that both pulls and separates one or more polymers of the flooring material from the adhesive backing concurrently in at least two different vectors for a time sufficient to separate the one or more polymers from the adhesive backing;
• and
• separating remaining adhesive away from the one or more polymers by at least one of crushing or squeezing, wherein greater than about 70% of components of the flooring material may be recycled.

A system for recycling one or more polymers from a flooring material comprising:

• one or more shredders capable of cutting flooring material into portions of a size that provides complete contact between the flooring material and a solvent capable of dissolving an adhesive backing of the flooring material away from one or more flooring material polymers;
• a vat or container in communication with the one or more shredders, the vat or container configured to accept the cut flooring material portions and subject the cut flooring material portions to the solvent;
• a mechanical disruptor that both pulls and separates the one or more polymers from the adhesive backing concurrently in at least two different vectors for a time sufficient to separate the one or more polymers from the adhesive backing following subjecting the cut flooring material portions to the solvent;
• and
• one or more rollers configured to crush adhesive particles remaining on the one or more polymers, wherein the system achieves complete separation of the one or more polymer components and the adhesive backing without substantially sheering the one or more polymers.