Since its beginning in 1978, the world’s third-largest carpet producer has made protecting the environment an important part of its business. Back then, the environmental movement was just getting started. Earth Day was just eight years old. Disasters like Love Canal and the Amoco Cadiz supertanker oil spill were making headlines and bringing environmental concerns to the forefront. Perhaps it was the company’s European roots or just a desire to do things differently, but Beaulieu of America has always strived to be green.

“You won’t see us bragging a lot about the way we make our carpet,” said Ralph Boe, president and CEO. “We tend to quietly go about our business and do a lot of things that are not only smart manufacturing practices but also kind to the environment.”

Like more and more manufacturers are discovering, sound environmental practices go hand-in-hand with good business and profitability—a fact Beaulieu knew long before it became a fashionable concept. And because Beaulieu is so vertically integrated, the control it exercises over every step and component in its carpet manufacturing process is helpful toward a greener product.

“Reducing waste generated in all our plants is a key goal,” Boe said. “In fact, it’s down 13%.”

As the popularity of bottled water skyrocketed in the mid-’80s (as well as the use of plastic soft drink bottles vs. glass) Beaulieu engineers saw an enormous potential for carpet fiber. It purchased the Marglen recycling plant in Rome, Ga. (now a Beaulieu affiliate), and began turning approximately 1.6 billion plastic bottles per year into its Green Smart PET polyester fiber. It’s all done without producing scrap materials or emissions. Green Smart is used in all Bliss by Beaulieu Healthy Home and Healthy Essence carpets.

Beaulieu’s recycling efforts don’t end there. It also produces primary and secondary carpet backings with recycled materials, and all Beaulieu Commercial products contain varying amounts of post-consumer waste. For example, Beaulieu’s Nexterra modular tile backing contains 85% post-consumer recycled content.

From a conservation standpoint, Beaulieu has reduced water usage by 37%, power usage by 23% and natural gas usage by 11% since 2005. The water it uses is actually cleaner when it’s returned than when it was taken. Also, natural gas, used as Beaulieu’s primary fuel, is the cleanest available. Even its forklifts run on electricity— not on polluting gas or diesel engines.

What’s in store for the future? Beaulieu engineers are already working on new ways to produce green sources of energy, such as wind energy, to produce its carpet. “Our philosophy is for every pound of waste we create, we use two pounds of recycled materials,” Boe said. That adds up to a greener future for everyone, one step at a time.