Green Homes Special Series: Part Ten: Flooring

cradle-to-cradle model, its current backing is being separated from the face fiber at Evergreen and downcycled—or recycled into material of lesser quality—for other uses. Since it opened in February 2007, the Evergreen facility has recycled more than 87 million pounds of post-consumer N6 carpet. Visit Shaw Environmental or call 800-434-9887 to locate a designated collection site. Shaw's Anso nylon Inspired Spaces products contain recycled content and are recyclable at Shaw's Evergreen Nylon Recycling Facility. © Shaw Industries Shaw also has introduced Epic™ hardwood which uses up to 67 percent recycled content. Epic’s dense inner layer, EnviroCore™, is composed of wood fiber created in the manufacture of other products, especially sawmill by-products that would otherwise be burned or put into landfills. While Shaw does not use formaldehyde-free adhesives, Allen says it is making proper changes to comply with California requirements and is exploring and testing alternative adhesives. Mohawk Industries has a different kind of recycling in its business operations. Mohawk’s everSTRAND™ carpet fiber is made using PET (polyethylene terephthalate) extruded from recycled plastic bottles. The company uses about 25 percent of the country’s recycled PET plastic drinking bottles—more than 17 billion since 1999. PET bottles are sorted, ground up, cleaned, melted, extruded into fiber and spun into carpet yarn. Even the bottle cap and label are used, making the cores around which the carpet is wrapped. Mohawk’s EverStrand™ carpets fiber, made using PET that is extruded from recycled plastic bottles, contain 100 percent post-consumer recycled content. Mohawk Industries uses nearly 25 percent of all recycled plastic bottles collected in North America—about three billion soda bottles—each year. © Mohawk Industries. well as traditional products.” Since the arrival of the carpet industry’s early recycling venture, “soda pop” carpets (made of recycled polyester from soda bottles), which prompted him to start a green floors area in his store in 1994, the “green” portion of his business has grown to 40 percent. He attributes this growth to the level of knowledge people have attained. “The more you read, the more you start to understand.” Bisbee has operated his store since 1975, providing residential and commercial services. The store specializes in environmentally responsible commercial and government floor design programs such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). GreenFloors bases its decisions on Executive Order No. 13101, the “Greening the Government through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Federal Acquisition” order from 1998 that looks at products in relationship to their alternatives. Under that order, each product decision has a unique and different set of circumstances to be aware of. Bisbee considers that the best decision is based on a balanced multi-attribute model using true, verified, current information with decision practices accepted in the industry and knowing and trusting the person and company with which you are dealing. Mark Bisbee in the GreenFloors showroom displays a reclaimed wood sample. © GreenFloors Homeowners could follow that cue. Know the company with whom you will be dealing. Ask questions. Look for products that wear well and have a long lifecycle. Check for products that are easy to maintain and don’t require toxic cleaners or use a lot of water to clean. To steer clear of “greenwashing,” look for responsible third-party certification. The Forest Stewardship Council, for example, sets standards to ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable way. Its independent certification organizations carry out assessments of forest management and verify that companies claiming to sell FSC-certified products have tracked their supply back to FSC-certified sources. The FSC logo assures the chain of custody certification. (For more information on “Greenwashing,” see this article.)

...Continued - Page 2 of 3 ( 1 2 3 )
< Previous Page | Next Page >