The interior furnishings building market is plunging headfirst into the green movement of environmentally responsible fixtures, furnishings, construction and building operations. From homes to high rises the world is going green. We have to ask ourselves: How green is green, what is green and how much of it is a green farce? Space only permits a glimpse at the answers.

The flooring industry- carpet in particular- is a leader in the green movement. Polyester carpet is largely made from recycled plastic bottles, with Mohawk being one of the largest recyclers of them. Tandus recycles old carpet tiles to remake new ones. Shaw has invested capital in recycling plants. Dow has tapped the Dalton landfills for methane gas to power its plant. UTT uses soy bean oil in its polyurethane backings on carpet.

More and more, you're going to see recycled content in the flooring products you sell. Other industries may say they're green but the carpet industry really is. You have to separate the farce from fact when listening to the green story and that's not always easy to do. Everyone wants to jump on the green bandwagon.

Of course, going green will have its challenges. Many of the new backings on wide width goods using recycled content are non-permeable and if they are installed over a concrete slab that contains moisture, the flooring could lift and form buckles, wrinkles and bubbles. These products may also increase the challenges of installation, which is why you have to follow the manufacturers' instructions explicitly for proper installation.

You will also be seeing several new installation technologies and backings systems- many of them LGM is helping develop. These will drastically change the way carpet and flooring material is installed. One system already in use is Free Lay, which employs an attached cushion backing with an applied polymer, ultimately eliminating the need for adhesives, cushion or tack strip. Available on any type of carpet, wide or narrow width, Free Lay technology is already being successfully marketed by Bentley Prince Street under the name Contact Release. Fewer components used for installation help make flooring green.

Aside from using recycled content and technologies that use less energy and fewer materials, the easiest and best way to go green is to prevent waste in the first place. It's really a very easy thing to do. The key is to sell or specify the right product into the right place and install onto a properly prepared substrate in an environment conditioned to maintain the integrity of the product and safety of the occupants. What this means is simple: Sell or install the correct product that will deliver years of service- that being appearance retention and performance- so that it does not have to be prematurely replaced.

Flooring material replaced prematurely, whether someone was ignorant, in a hurry or had no common sense by laying in conditions that force replacement, is the single largest source of waste. Avoiding this would prevent flooring from going into landfills that shouldn't and from ripping up installations that failed because the job had to be finished at the speed of light. Funny how there's no time to do it right but time enough to fix it.

With the economy and business being slow there's no reason to race to get things done. No one's so busy that there's a dire need to rush. Haste makes waste and waste ain't being green.

Saying something is green doesn't make it so. There's a lot of talk going on that isn't necessarily true. The bottom line is that being truly green means not wasting resources, energy and time.