By Sunil Taneja
Toronto—It just makes good business sense to provide products that minimize their environmental impact and at the same time may even be beneficial to the earth.

That was the primary message at this year’s IIDEX/ NeoCon Canada show at the newly named Direct Energy Centre here. Almost every vendor had a green message for the A&D community that makes up the majority of visitors to the annual trade show.

In the years since Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. (MMPI) took over management of the International Interior Design Exposition (IIDEX) for the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO) bringing the NeoCon name to Canada, the market has increased its emphasis on responsible design and specifications, pushing the manufacturing sector to, in turn, focus more on the sustainability of its wares.

For many of those in the flooring industry, that has meant retooling their marketing spin to let specifiers know the sector has been at the forefront of environmental responsibility initiatives long before sustainability achieved buzz word status. Companies including Forbo, InterfaceFlor Canada, Milliken, Satin Finish Hardwood and others took advantage of the market to let customers know they have green products already in-market and have had strong environmental policies for decades.

“We have a strong environmental policy that was written in 1961,” explained Milliken’s Bill Gregory, director of sustainable strategies. It is a point of pride with the company that the policy is followed strictly because “it is the right thing to do, not because it’s a neat pitch. You can’t let the sustainability buzz outweigh health and safety issues.”

Further, companies such as Shaw Commercial showcased products that can go from cradle-to-cradle, i.e. carpets that purportedly leave little or no environmental impact as the backings can go back to soil and the nylon can be endlessly recycled into new carpet.

“The environmentally sustainable products and services being shown here at IIDEX are readily available today,” reinforced Peter Love, the province of Ontario’s Energy Conservation Officer, at a press conference launching the LEEDS CI initiative in Canada.

He reminded designers it may take time for the initiatives to take full hold in the marketplace. “It won’t happen overnight.” As part of Ontario’s blue box household recycling initiative, he noted there was a good deal of initial resistance. “It took a while, but once it began to happen, it took off and now [the blue box] is part of our everyday process.

“The challenge for the design and architecture community is to focus on the way things are seen and really challenge peoples’ senses,” he continued. “You can make these products attractive [to consumers]; you can make it something people want to live in.”

At Armstrong Floor Products, Ruth Shannon, territory manager eastern Ontario, reported the company’s green products were “well received with lots of interest in the visuals of what’s green.”

“It’s interesting how the green feature at the show has been really well received since its first year,” said Trevor Kruse, interior designer with Hudson Kruse and ARIDO liaison for the market. “We knew from that initial response it was worthwhile having and have steadily increased the green message.”

Accordingly, the green pavilion that had encompassed an annually growing share of the market floor was removed this year in favor of floor markers indicating all the companies with a green product or message.

“Until this year, green was just a feature [of the show],” Kruse explained. “This year, more than half our exhibitors have a green product, message or are shifting to green business practices.”

He noted the shift to green involves a process of baby steps as manufacturers must retool or update machinery in order to be part of a more environmentally sound initiative. “We’re serious about sustainability. The industry, the show and ARIDO all realize it is our responsibility.”

“There is no more oil or air on the Earth than what is already here,” Milliken’s Gregory concurred. “If we don’t protect what we have it will be gone. Milliken tries to take a more holistic approach than just throwing recycled content into our carpets. All our new products must meet a sustainability barrier before we even consider going forward with them.”

“If you don’t do life cycle assessments on your products and know where your impacts are,” added Forbo’s Tim Cole, director of support services, “you’re not going to know exactly where to start at getting better.”

He noted his company is also moving toward creating cradle-to-cradle life cycle products. Forbo is working with a national waste management company that has regional locations prepared to take the products at the end of their life cycle.

“Instead of saying we want you to send the product to us in Pennsylvania,” Cole explained, “we’re saying we want you to send it to one of these regional locations. Telling someone to send product back all the way from Western Canada, for instance, sounds good from a marketing perspective, but in terms of environmental impact, it’s not friendly at all.”