By Matthew Spieler
Part 2
Part one of this series looked back at how the flooring industry as a whole has been promoting and establishing environmental stewardship programs long before the current green movement started to become mainstream. The article highlighted programs that some of the leading hard surface companies have been doing for years, some going back to the turn of the last century. It also pointed to some of the initiatives undertaken by the carpet industry as a whole.

In this part Floor Covering News takes a more in-depth look at a few of the larger initiatives, awards and programs from some of the major carpet manufacturers. Many of these, it should be noted, are not only firsts for the segment and building industry in general, but have positioned a company as a leader throughout all businesses and industries in the U.S.

As in the first part, we are focusing more on overall types of environmental platforms initiated by a company rather than a specific product since just about every mill has a variety of products claiming to have some type of green attribute built into it.

Beaulieu

The company has not only become involved in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership program, its commercial division has been recognized as a member in its Leadership Club.

The Leadership Club distinction is given to organizations that have significantly exceeded EPA’s minimum purchase requirements. Green Power Leadership Club members must purchase 10 times the partnership’s minimum requirement organization-wide.

Beaulieu is currently purchasing more than nine million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which is enough green power to meet 100% of the mill’s purchased electricity use nationwide. Beaulieu Commercial is buying renewable energy certificates (RECs) from Sterling Planet, a leading national supplier of green power products.

Green power is electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. These resources generate electricity with a net zero increase in carbon dioxide emissions while offering a superior environmental profile compared to traditional power generation sources.

EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, said, “By voluntarily shifting to renewable energy, Beaulieu Commercial is proving you don’t need to wait for a signal in order to go green.”

Interface

Back in 1996, the company began tracking ‘ecometrics’ as a way to measure energy and water intake, waste streams greenhouse gas emissions and raw material streams to evaluate its progress toward the goal of sustainability and doing business in ways that minimize the impact on the environment, noted Dan Hendrix, president and CEO.

For 2007, Interface reported that net absolute greenhouse gas emissions are down 82% from the 1996 baseline, while total energy intensity (use per unit of output) is down 45% from 1996. In addition, 27% of total energy use is either made renewable through the purchase of RECs or received directly from renewable sources.

Water intake per production unit in manufacturing facilities is down 75% from 1996 levels, which Hendrix said is key in drought- tricken communities in the U.S. where Interface manufactures, including Georgia and California.

Total waste sent to landfills has decreased by 66% from 1996 levels. In a related metric, Interface has diverted 133 million pounds of used carpet from the landfills over the last 12 years through the company’s ReEntry program, now efficiently recycling both carpet backing and face fiber.

“We are making the business case for sustainability by reducing our carbon footprint through process and product efficiencies,” he explained, “while sales—and therefore production—are on the rise.”

Milliken

This past Earth Day, the company received permission from Spartanburg County, S.C., to launch its second partnership to harvest methane as an alternative energy source.

A pipeline from the Wellford Landfill to Milliken’s Dewey plant near Inman, S.C., will carry landfill gas containing the fuel methane, a naturally generated by-product of landfill decomposition, to help power the manufacturing facility.

Milliken currently harvests more than 80% of the methane gas from the LaGrange, Ga., landfill as a replacement for natural gas in its carpet manufacturing here.

Richard Dillard, director of public affairs for Milliken, said, “With the success of our methane program in LaGrange, Spartanburg County immediately realized the benefit of this proposal to the local government, our community, Milliken and ultimately the Earth.”

Spartanburg County administrator Glenn Breed, said the latest project will have annual environmental benefits equal to or greater than any one of the following: Removing the pollution emissions of 10,000 vehicles, planting 14,000 acres of forest, offsetting the use of 260 railroad cars of coal, offsetting the use of 125,000 barrels of oil, eliminating 52,000 tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and removing pollution emissions from electricity generation for usage in 5,000 homes.

Mohawk

Frank Endrenyi, vice president of sustainable development, pointed out how the company now recycles 25% of the plastic soda/water bottles collected in the U.S. every year into new polyester carpet. And, because of its efforts to not only use every bottle collected but find as many uses as possible for the different components, such as the caps, technological advances have made it to where “almost nothing is wasted.”

The mill recently opened its Greenworks recycling center with the ability to build similar operations to scale at locations around the country. Through an intensive process, Endrenyi noted how Mohawk has the ability to take in any type of carpet and develop a use for 90% of it.

And, because Mohawk makes and sells more than carpet, its green commitment has spread throughout the company. For example, its Dal-Tile division now incorporates recycled content into every product. Quick•Step and Mohawk branded laminate products are also made with recycled content.

“Overall, we divert over 6 billion pounds from landfills and a lot of that comes from our Quick•Step operations in Europe where wood is taken from demolition sites for recycling.”

To treat wastewater at its Sugar Valley, Ga., facility, Mohawk built a small aerobic treatment unit that uses microbes to break down waste and constructed two wetlands fields to filter out phosphorous, nitrogen and other nutrients that can cause water pollution problems such as algal blooms. The result is water that is often cleaner after passing through Mohawk’s wetlands than if treated in more conventional facilities.

Shaw

John Bradshaw, environmental marketing manager, noted the company recently completed the first year of operating the Evergreen Recycling facility that it acquired as part of the Honeywell purchase. Since reopening, last February approximately 125 million pounds of carpet have been recycled into new carpet products.

But, he added, the company has been environmentally responsible for many years. In fact, since 1985 it has reduced greenhouse emissions by over 90% per square yard of production. And in 1990, 12 years before the Carpet America Recovery Effort ( CARE) began, it made its first carpet cushion with 100% recycled materials and today uses approximately 25 million pounds of waste in its production per year. And, since 1995, Shaw manufactures 75% more carpet per cubic foot of natural gas, over twice as much per gallon of water and nearly seven times as much per gallon of fuel.

In 2005 Shaw opened an energy-from-waste facility to produce steam for one of its carpet dyeing operations. This plant uses carpet waste and laminate wood flour for fuel. According to the company it diverts approximately 16,000 tons of carpet waste per year. And because this technology replaces traditional fossil fuel boiler technology, Shaw has reduced oil usage at the plant by 90%.

Like many flooring companies,its environmental efforts have been recognized by various entities, including local, state and federal agencies. The biggest, perhaps, came in 2003 when it became the first flooring company to receive the EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Award “for discovering innovative ways to significantly reduce pollution at its sources and for use of chemistry to improve the environment.”

In November 2006, Shaw named the company’s ongoing environmental efforts The Shaw Green Edge, which is an umbrella term that represents over 100 environmentally, socially and economically responsible initiatives. “These initiatives are action-based and things that Shaw is already doing—not just talking about,” Bradshaw explained.

Despite all the industry has done as a whole and by individual companies “there is still much to do, and concern for the environment is not going away,” Bradshaw concluded. “Within the industry, the environmental movement started as commercially-driven. Today, environmental-awareness is also prevalent among consumers, and this will only increase as the consumer becomes more educated on ecofriendly products and processes. Our industry must continually develop methods and products that are better for our earth.”