Article Number : 1579 |
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| Date | 12/18/2006 9:18:05 AM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | //floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=1579 |
| Abstract | Denver—Recently, at the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, Shaw Industries’ Contract Group introduced EcoWorx Performance Broadloom, touted as being the commercial carpet industry’s first fully sustainable, cradle-to-cradle backing for use with broadloom carpet products... |
| Article | Denver—Recently, at the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, Shaw Industries’ Contract Group introduced EcoWorx Performance Broadloom, touted as being the commercial carpet industry’s first fully sustainable, cradle-to-cradle backing for use with broadloom carpet products. With broadloom compromising approximately 70% of the entire commercial floor covering market, the introduction of EcoWorx Performance Broadloom will play a significant role in reducing the amount of carpet sent to landfills after its useful life and marks another significant step in Shaw Industries’ ongoing, comprehensive commitment to providing cradle-to-cradle product and process solutions for its customers (see story on page one), noted John Stephens, vice president of marketing for Shaw Contract Group. “When we began developing EcoWorx Performance Broadloom, we wanted to design a product that would not only meet the needs of commercial carpet end users and specifiers, but also provide a sustainable product that could effectively address the larger broadloom market,” he explained. “This revolutionary product achieves both of those goals and will significantly help eliminate waste and prevent carpet from languishing in a landfill.” The concept behind EcoWorx Performance Broadloom is to incorporate components that are designed to maximize performance and recyclability, noted Stephens. “Specifically, each component in the backing system is designed to work cooperatively and contains no filler. This allows broadloom products with EcoWorx Performance Broadloom to be lightweight, flexible and among the highest performing carpets in the industry today.” Because of these cooperatively working components, EcoWorx Performance broadloom can be easily generated, deconstructed and regenerated again and again through an innovative, proprietary five-step dissolution process. Through this process, key components of a used carpet product—fiber and backing—are turned into new EcoWorx Performance Broadloom backing and Shaw’s premium branded fiber, EcoSolution Q nylon, which contains 25% recycled content, with no loss of performance. Among its many attributes, noted Stephens, EcoWorx Performance Broadloom is stronger, 40% lighter and has a delamination strength 10 times stronger than backing used on traditional broadloom commercial products. In addition, it passes the industry-leading anti-microbial test when installed and the British Spill Test for moisture management as its complete moisture barrier allows the backing to perform the same way, whether it is wet or dry. EcoWorx Performance Broadloom will make its debut through a collaborative collection between Shaw Contract Group, William McDonough and Susan Lyons. It will be available in summer 2007. EcoWorx Performance Broadloom will also be adapted for use on current running product lines. Products made with EcoWorx Performance Broadloom contribute to USGBC LEED certification standards. In addition, Shaw’s Environmental Guarantee means EcoWorx broadloom products will be collected at the end of their useful life, at no cost to the end user, and recycled over and over into more EcoWorx backing. For more on Shaw Contract Group and its products, call 706.278.3812. |