Despite all these challenges the carpet industry still managed to divert a record amount of product from going to the landfill in 2013—534 million pounds, or 14% of the 3.7 billion pounds of total discarded carpet.
Five years after its inception, Carpet Plus’ Re-Cork C’Ville program has collected over 1.1 million cork stoppers from over 60 participating locations in the Charlottesville, Va., area. Carpets Plus, an independent specialty retailer in Charlottesville, Va., recently partnered with Yemm & Hart, a Missouri-based company that recycles used wine cork stoppers into tile, to make use of the recyled cork from the program.
When it comes to the carpet industry and the work it has done on the sustainability side it is hard to argue with the success and strides it has made over the years–especially the last dozen or so when it helped spearhead the formation of the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE).
Crossville has diverted a total of 40 million pounds of fired porcelain since launching its Tile Take-Back program and TOTO USA partnership, according to the company.
Sound control in the flooring industry is a thankless job. Think about it, if the product is installed and functions properly the end user never even knows it’s there. No concerns, no complaints and, most unfortunately, no pats on the back.
A new, and somewhat controversial rating system, a keynote address by the former First Lady and Secretary of State, and a sense business is once again growing helped energize the approximately 28,000 people who came out to the City of Brotherly Love for the annual Greenbuild.
Laminate is a fascinating product because it is environmentally friendly from start to finish—from its composition to installation to maintenance. It is a quality, durable product that is easy on your conscious.
Today, it is well understood a wide variety of environmental concepts need to be considered when evaluating product sustainability. Gone is the need to evaluate single-attribute sustainability claims like recycled content or low VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
Solid black rubber material is over 90% post-consumer waste from old tires and has been used as flooring for many years for athletic facilities. The next step in the product evolution was to add small amounts of color to the mix, but that mostly black material is still widely used today.
