Lancaster Ice Rink has been a cornerstone of the Central Pennsylvania skating community since 1994, welcoming more than
250,000 skaters and spectators each year for hockey, figure skating, public sessions, camps and clinics. Built through the fundraising and volunteer efforts of the Lancaster County Youth Amateur Hockey League, the facility also serves as home ice for the Lancaster Firebirds and local school teams, including Millersville University.
As the 2025-26 season approached, the facility faced a pressing need: The flooring installed nearly a decade ago was reaching the end of its lifecycle. Rather than simply replacing the flooring, the rink saw this as an opportunity for a refresh, while simultaneously reinforcing its role as a responsible community leader by partnering with Ecore International’s TRUcircularity takeback program.
The TRUcircularity program is built on a simple but powerful concept: recover, recycle and reuse. Old flooring is collected at the end of its life and returned to Ecore, where it is broken down and reprocessed into new, high-performance surfaces.
For Lancaster Ice Rink, this meant the original Basic Fit 8mm flooring installed in 2015-2016 was not destined for the landfill. Instead, the recycled rubber was reclaimed and given new life. In July 2025, the rink contributed 12,560 pounds of rubber back into the circular economy, avoiding more than 30.5 tons of CO₂ emissions when compared to producing virgin rubber.
“Lancaster Ice Rink not only refreshed its facility but also advanced a more sustainable future,” said Shweta Srikanth, chief circularity officer at Ecore. “We reclaimed thousands of pounds of material, prevented significant carbon emissions, and delivered a surface built for the ice sports community—a strong example of how local facilities can upgrade performance while reducing impact.”
Once the old flooring was removed and recycled, a new surface engineered specifically for ice and skating environments called Blade was installed. Approximately 5,000 square feet of this new surface was installed, covering locker rooms, restrooms, walkways, the snack bar and a custom-logo entryway that greets every skater and spectator.
The new flooring is a dense, 9-millimeter vulcanized composition rubber surface engineered for ice-skating traffic. It offers superior slip resistance in both wet and dry conditions, outstanding blade resistance and high energy restitution (74.9%) with a force reduction of 8.2%, making it ideal for locker rooms, walkways and rink perimeters. It’s also made with reclaimed materials and fully recyclable at end of life.
The installation was managed by Wall-to-Wall Floor Covering, a Lancaster County-based company specializing in residential and commercial flooring since 1999. Its local expertise reinforced the project’s community-first ethos. The job spanned several months of planning and required just seven business days on-site to complete.
With the 2025-2026 season underway, the transformation is visible. The new surfaces have elevated the appearance of the rink, offering a brighter, more modern look to some of its most heavily trafficked spaces.
“The flooring makes a big difference,” said Larry Courville, general manager at Lancaster Ice Rink. “Our locker rooms and walkways look completely refreshed, and families notice it as soon as they walk in. Just as important, we now have a surface designed specifically for skating that we can count on for durability, performance and safety. It’s a huge win for our players, coaches and the community.”
For More Information:
Lancaster Ice Rink: https://www.lancastericerink.org
Ecore International TRUcircularity: https://ecoreathletic.com/sustainability