While many manufacturers in the flooring industry are changing the formulation of their products to attract environmentally concerned customers, MP Global Products has always been environmentally aware, saving natural resources by manufacturing products made almost entirely from post-industrial/pre-consumer recycled fibers from the carpet and textile industries.

‘Green’ before ‘green’ was popular; from day one the company utilized a manufacturing process that uses recycled materials. “We are committed to providing the best combination of innovative technology and eco-friendly practices,” says Bob Pratt, Technical Director at MP Global Products. “We manufacture our products for performance with the environment in mind.”

MP Global Products developed QuietWalk®, as an acoustical underlayment for beneath floating laminate and engineered wood floors, in 1999. In addition over the past decade, they have also introduced other acoustical underlayment products composed entirely or predominately with recycled fibers.

Each month, the company uses approximately 760 tons of recycled fibers that normally would have gone into landfills.  “We didn’t have to reinvent ourselves to be green,” noted Al Collison, Founder and CEO of  MP Global Products.

The products, which include Insulayment®, designed specifically for fasten-down hard surface flooring, FiberBacker®, for beneath tile, and QuietWarmth®, a radiant heat underlayment for laminate, wood and ceramic flooring, are all certified by Scientific Certification System (SCS) for their high percentage of recycled content. The same products also earned SCS Indoor Advantage Gold certification, which requires the highest level of indoor performance for clean air in the United States.

The fiber products are also LEED compliant, so that use of the products in projects that are aiming for LEED certification can help property owners with the overall percentage of pre-consumer content for LEED certification in the Materials and Resources category (specifically, MR Credit 4.1 and 4.2).

When selling to environmentally aware customers, green underlayment can be a smart step in the right direction.

- Jack Boesch, Director of Marketing, MP Global Products, LLC