Dalton—Protecting the environment is something the flooring industry has taken very seriously, especially at the mill level as manufacturers and fiber suppliers have developed methods to recycle post-consumer products into new floors while at the same time making the manufacturing process have less of an impact on nature. Shaw Industries has not only been at the forefront of the environmental push for many years it continues to find ways to divert flooring materials from the land-fill and make its plants produce less waste and use less energy. The company’s latest environmental initiative is designed to accomplish all the above, as it has embarked on a project to convert both carpet and wood manufacturing waste to steam energy which will be used to power the operations at its Springdale, Ark., plant.

Gary Nichols, Shaw’s energy manager who is heading up the project, said the concept, known as gasification, has been in the works for more than three years. “This is really a bold undertaking for the company; we have never done anything like this before, although it is something Shaw has been considering for a long time.” The conversion process that is gasification, he explained, turns manufacturing carpet waste, post-consumer carpet waste and wood flour—the dust generated from trimming during laminate manufacturing—into steam. Shaw, which developed the process in cooperation with Siemans Building Technologies, expects the gasification facility to be fully operational by the end of 2005.

Steve Bradfield, Shaw’s director of corporate environmental affairs, noted, this venture will result in a reduction of manufacturing byproducts destined for the landfill, produce lower emissions at the Springdale plant, and eventually save up to $2.5 million per year at the facility. In terms of just how much material the initiative will divert from landfills, Bill Barron, Shaw’s vice president of manufacturing, said the company estimates it will be approximately 16,000 tons of post-industrial and consumer carpet waste combined, and 6,000 tons of wood flour per year. “This represents a huge savings in terms of landfill reduction and energy costs,” he said.

“In addition, this project is extremely environmentally friendly in terms of the cleaner emissions that will result—particularly the tremendous reduction in sulfur dioxide (SO2).” Nichols noted that even though getting the new gasification facility up and running is top priority, the company continues to invest in research to find even more ways to be a friend to the environment and not a hindrance. For example, gasification uses only the actual fiber. To get to that stage, broadloom wastes are baled and sent to a grinder where the fiber gets separated from the filler. Another byproduct, he said, is the ash produced through gasification. So, Nichols’ team is studying ways to convert these waste byproducts to useful alternatives. Bradfield said, “It is Shaw’s hope that sustainable technologies will make future wastes from carpet and other floor coverings ideal for closed-loop recycling into broadloom or other products too valuable to burn. “Meanwhile,” he concluded, “gasification offers a high-value, low environmental impact means of collecting and utilizing carpet and wood waste.”