An international carpet company has set out its environmental credentials in a Green Book made from recycled waste, bound with biodegradable thread, and embedded with annual and perennial wildflower seeds.
Desso, which has factories in Holland and Belgium, has adopted industry-leading Cradle to Cradle manufacturing policies which will result in their products ending their usable life by being either completely biodegraded or recycled.
The Green Book is printed with water and soya-based ink and is also the new size of Desso’s sample carpet tiles – which have been reduced to a quarter of their previous size – saving raw materials, packaging and transport emissions.
In addition, and symbolising Desso’s core corporate principles of sustainability, the Green Book can be taken apart and planted – creating a carpet of wild flowers in a matter of weeks.
Desso’s broadloom and carpet tiles are certified under the Australian Ecolabel Program and hold a Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) licence.
The new environmental philosophy that Desso has adopted was first advanced in 2002 by the German chemist Michael Braungart and an American architect William McDonough in their book ‘Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.’
Its central premise is that products should be conceived from the start with intelligent design and the intention that they would eventually be recycled. Time Magazine has called it “a unified philosophy that - in demonstrable and practical ways - is changing the design of the world.”
Cradle to Cradle means that valuable materials do not end up in landfill sites or incineration at the end of their supposed ‘lifetime’ or being ‘down-cycled’ into lower quality materials. At the end of Desso carpets' useful lives, their components will be collected, reused or redeployed.
Desso is now closing in on that sustainable cycle by sourcing sustainable raw materials, introducing new manufacturing methods and collecting used carpets from its clients.
In March 2008, the company entered into a partnership with the Hamburg-based Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA - http://www.epea.com), the brainchild of Cradle to Cradle co-founder Michael Braungart. EPEA encourages companies to assess their activities concerning sustainability, recycling, waste management and energy use – and make improvements throughout.
Waste recycling in the company’s factories already exceeds 90%, all their plants moved towards green energy during 2008 and the company has launched a pioneering project to take back customers' carpet for reprocessing.
In November last year, Desso appeared at NUTEC – the first conference and exhibition on the Cradle to Cradle approach to sustainability – where it unveiled its latest carpet tile Reclaim.
Reclaim is made from 100% Econyl Aquafil solution dyed nylon: with a pile fibre consisting of 70% recycled content and 100% post-consumer recycled polyester
primary backing.
Additionally, Reclaim is the first carpet tile to receive a stamp from the independent German test institute, GUI, which specialises in assessing air quality, dampness and dust particle count. This ecologically-intelligent carpet range combines functionality and aesthetics, is economically viable and, as in nature, shows that everything can be reborn again and again.
The company has also achieved Green Label Plus certification for its tiles and broadloom products, which sets an extremely high standard for internal air quality. This international standard, set by the
Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), ensures that customers are buying the very lowest-emitting products on the market – especially important as green building rating becomes evermore prevalent.
For a copy of the Green Book, please contact Patricia Beks at pbeks@desso.com
About DessoDesso has been designing and manufacturing carpet for almost 80 years. The company has factories in Europe and its products can be found in commercial and public buildings worldwide.
