Waste Management System

This is a unique, comprehensive system we put in place to help us identify, evaluate, and reduce or eliminate waste streams. It's how we ensure best practices for waste prevention throughout all our manufacturing facilities. The corporate waste prevention team is responsible for communicating and educating its plant managers about the technologies and programs in place across the company to ensure best practices for waste prevention throughout all of the manufacturing facilities. Through this systematic approach, Mohawk has identified more than 100 different waste streams across its facilities. By tracking the pounds of waste - referred to as byproducts - of each of these waste streams in an internal documentation system, Mohawk's management can better guide the company's environmental engineering groups and plant managers to find economical solutions to not only recycle the waste, but to eliminate it altogether. Every new efficiency or innovation we come up with for handling our waste has tremendous impact on the environment because we're such a large-scale manufacturer.

• Backing Waste – As one of the largest producers of carpet backing, we found a way to recover the waste that comes from producing our backings and use it to make our high performance carpet cores- cores that are more durable and longer lasting than regular cardboard cores because of their unique material make up.
• Yarn Waste – We send yarn waste to our materials reclamation center and recycle it for use in other products such as synthetic carpet padding. With this unique recycling initiative, we are able to decrease our impact on the environment and turn what would be considered waste into a valuable raw material for our products.
• Shrink Wrap – We recycle the stretch film that is used to shrink-wrap pallets and include it as a key ingredient in our high performance carpet cores. These cores save many trees by replacing the standard cardboard carpet cores.
• Cardboard – We strive to have 100% of all the cardboard used in our manufacturing facilities recycled. This cardboard is collected and recycled back into other paper or cardboard boxes—making it a closed-loop paper to paper system. We then turn around and repurchase this material and use it again.
• Pallets – We use and reuse our wooden pallets until they become damaged beyond repair. Then, instead of dumping them in landfills, we send them to be ground up and used for mulch, compost, or even the core material that goes into particle board.
• Bottle Caps/Labels – Every year, almost 3 billion recycled PET plastic drink bottles are turned into EverStrand fiber, our superior 100% recycled content fiber. But what happens to all those bottle caps and labels? We recycle those, too. Bottle caps and labels become plastic carpet cores that can be used over and over again - unlike cardboard cores which are typically thrown away after one use. By switching to plastic carpet cores, we save 68,000 trees every year.
• Foam Pad – We also recycle materials other manufacturers have scrapped and use that material in our products. For our high-end carpet pads we purchase polyurethane foam scraps that come from the manufacturing of new mattresses, new furniture and seats rejected from new cars. Per facility we use approximately 15 million pounds of the foam scraps per month, and we are in the process of building our sixth facility.