DALTON, Ga., Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ - For years, Mohawk Industries, the world's leading floor covering company, has focused on environmentally friendly business practices that benefit the consumer, the environment, and the bottom line. For example, since 1999, Mohawk has recycled more than 17 billion plastic bottles for use in its PET (polyethylene terephthalate) carpet. With increased consumer interest in protecting the environment, Mohawk wants consumers to know that there are a variety of high-quality green options when it comes to flooring.

"It's easy to say you're green, but it's not so easy to actually be green," said Frank Endrenyi, vice president of sustainable development at Mohawk Industries. "We're thrilled to offer consumers top-of-the line flooring that has a proven green story to go along with it."

"We're taking carpet fiber literally from the field to the floor," said Jeffrey S. Lorberbaum, chairman and chief executive officer, Mohawk Industries. "We're looking forward to giving our industry another remarkable innovation -- one that will benefit our consumers, and the environment."

Mohawk leads innovation in eco-friendly products and practices with a wide range of projects, including recycling programs, use of renewable fuels, and energy- and emission-cutting efforts. As the largest recycler in the flooring industry, Mohawk diverts more than three billion pounds of pre- and post- consumer waste from landfills each year. More than 500 Mohawk products - carpet, carpet tiles, laminates, and ceramic tile - contain recycled materials.

Carpet Made from 100% Post-Consumer Material

Mohawks' everSTRAND™ PET carpet is made from 100 percent post-consumer materials. The Company extrudes the PET fiber from the three billion plastic bottles that it recycles each year -- that's one in every four recycled plastic bottles in North America.

At its Greenworks Center in Chatsworth, Georgia, Mohawk also recycles old carpet removed from office buildings and homes across the country, and then processes it into the plastics industry as well as other applications such as carpet cores. Carpet is rolled around these cores for transportation and storage. Typically, carpet cores are made from cardboard and discarded after each use. Mohawk saves thousands of trees every year by making reusable plastic cores from post-consumer materials.

Mohawk can process all major types of synthetic carpet fiber: nylon, polyester, and polypropylene. What's more, the Mohawk Greenworks Center uses patent pending technology to process 100 percent of the carpet - fiber, backing, and latex - and recover 90 percent of all materials for reuse.

Renewably-Sourced Residential Carpet Fiber

In a partnership with DuPont, Mohawk will launch its carpet featuring SmartStrand® with DuPont™ Sorona® renewably sourced polymer this fall. Not only does this luxuriously soft carpet offer extreme durability and revolutionary stain protection, it will also soon be partly produced from renewable corn sources rather than petroleum.

"This carpet represents a new frontier in sustainable flooring," Endrenyi noted. "For every seven square yards of carpet featuring SmartStrand® with DuPont™ Sorona® renewably sourced polymer produced, we save a gallon of gasoline."

Mohawk Greenworks

The Company's green efforts are being promoted under the "Mohawk Greenworks" umbrella. For more information regarding all of Mohawk's key Greenworks projects, visit www.mohawkgreenworks.com and the Mohawk Greenworks Blog at www.greenworksblog.com.

About Mohawk Industries

Mohawk is a leading supplier of flooring for both residential and commercial applications. Mohawk offers a complete selection of carpet, ceramic tile, wood, stone, laminate, vinyl, rugs and other home products. These products are marketed under the premier brands in the industry, which include Mohawk, Karastan, Ralph Lauren, Lees, Bigelow, Quick Step, Dal-Tile and American Olean. Mohawk's unique merchandising and marketing assist our customers in creating the consumers' dream. Mohawk provides a premium level of service with its own trucking fleet and over 300 local distribution locations.