Mohawk "Greenworks" Platform Highlights Company's Innovative Environmental Efforts

DALTON (August 22, 2007) — Mohawk Industries has literally hundreds of environmentally-oriented projects in the works at any given time. These range from internal efforts to cut emissions at a single plant, to the industry's largest recycling project that converts as much as one-quarter of all the soft drink bottles sold in the U.S. into carpet fiber.

To allow consumers, dealers, employees and others to better understand the full scope of Mohawk's environmental efforts, the company has launched a new "umbrella" program called "Greenworks" that places all green projects under a single platform for their customers and shareholders.

"It's easy to say you're green. It's a lot more difficult to actually be green," notes Frank Endrenyi, Vice President of Sustainable Development for Mohawk. "Greenworks is designed to help people understand how much effort goes into this process-and how it impacts every level of our company."

Endrenyi said Greenworks covers the spectrum of environmental practices-the "5 Rs"-recycle, renew, reuse, recover, and reduce. He noted that Mohawk leads the floorcovering industry in many environmental efforts, and has been cited by government agencies as a pioneer for other industries to follow.

"Mohawk is the largest recycler in the flooring industry. We currently divert more than three billion pounds of pre- and post-consumer waste from landfills, and this number continues to grow," he said. "More than 500 Mohawk products-carpet, carpet tiles, cushion, laminates, and ceramic tile-contain recycled materials," Endrenyi said. "These materials come from our processes and from a range of other products, including old tires, roofing materials, old wood furniture, soft drink bottles, carpet, and others sources."

Endrenyi stressed the magnitude of Mohawk recycling. "How big is a billion compared to a million? If you put it in terms of time, you could compare it like this: a million seconds is 11.5 days. A billion seconds is nearly 32 years. That's how large Mohawk's recycling operation is now, and it's going to get bigger," he said.

New Portable, Scalable Recycling Center Works With All Major Synthetic Fibers

One key new element in Mohawk recycling is a new recycling center concept for post-consumer carpet. Endrenyi said that Mohawk has been working for years with the carpet industry's C.A.R.E. (Carpet America Recovery Effort) initiative to develop new ways of approaching the challenge of what to do with old carpet. Mohawk's new Greenworks Center is unique in that it can process not just nylon 6 but all major types of synthetic carpet fiber.

What's more, the Mohawk Greenworks Center uses patent pending technology to process 100% of the carpet-fiber, backing, and latex-and recover approximately 90% of all materials for reuse. "Our Greenworks facility is also portable, so it can go to the carpet, which makes recycling more feasible. It can be scaled for the amount of material that needs to be processed," Endrenyi said. "It can also process certain thermoplastic non-carpet recyclables, which makes it even more attractive to recycling companies. Most importantly, though, is that with this system, almost no carpet materials go into landfills."

Endrenyi said the Mohawk Greenworks Center is now open in Chatsworth, GA, but other locations can be built. Because the plants can be built anywhere, recyclers can keep costs down by being close to any Greenworks processing center.

The Industry's First Renewably Sourced Synthetic Fiber

Mohawk has gathered plenty of attention for its SmartStrand® fiber made with DuPont™ Sorona® polymer, introduced three years ago as the first major fiber innovation in nearly two decades. The company gained even more when it announced that nearly 40% of the polymer used to product the fiber would be manufactured from corn rather than petroleum. There will be more discussion of SmartStrand fiber made with DuPont Sorona renewably sourced polymer in the fall.

Continuing Programs In Reduction and Manufacturing Efficiency

Endrenyi also believes that the Greenworks platform will help convey a better understanding of Mohawk's many programs designed to reduce the use of energy and materials and to boost manufacturing efficiency. "Green doesn't have to mean more expensive," he said. "In fact, the opposite is often true."

He noted that Mohawk's plant in Dublin, GA stopped using natural gas earlier this year and now generates energy from yellow grease, a by-product of food processing. "The cost is similar to natural gas and the resource is renewable," he said. Many Mohawk plants now use biomass products for energy.

He also said that since 1995, Mohawk has cut its use of water in select manufacturing facilities by half, and that several plants have 100% recycling of waste water generated from manufacturing. Phosphorous emissions in the Northwest Georgia area have been reduced by 70%. Carpet cores are made from waste carpet and other manufacturing waste materials rather than paper, saving thousands of trees each year. The plastic cores also last longer and are less likely to break. When they get old, they're recycled again to make new cores.

"We are literally looking at every step of our operations, to see what can be done to improve each and to be better environmental stewards," he said. "That's one of the things that makes Greenworks so exciting-it lets us exchange more information, which offers the opportunity for even more ideas."

A New Educational Effort At All Levels

The Greenworks platform is particularly important, Endrenyi says, because it gives Mohawk a single voice for communicating its myriad environmental programs globally. He said that one reason for Mohawk's reluctance in the past to talk about some programs is the company's caution in verifying the accuracy of its environmental claims.

"We check our figures carefully before we go public with them," he said. "A critical part of environmental responsibility lies in being accurate about your efforts. We're very careful to avoid 'greenwashing,' or misleading statements. And we're hesitant to talk about projects that we're exploring but may or may not come to fruition."

He said environmental communications will be a bigger and bigger issue for companies in the coming years, as consumers become even more aware of green efforts.

"Our studies show that half of U.S. consumers now recycle either bottles or newspapers," he noted. "In 2004, 21% said they voted for candidates in part based on their environmental records. Ninety-nine percent of schoolchildren now have access to environmental classes.

"Surveys of Mohawk customers also show that half worry more about environmental issues than five years ago, and 60% believe that global warming claims are either correct or understated. Fifty-nine percent said they are 'somewhat or extremely likely' to purchase a carpet or flooring product that is environmentally acceptable. With these figures in mind, we as a company need to have answers for consumers. And we need to provide our dealers with the information they will need to address the environment."

Part of this information will come from a new Greenworks project: a blog that allows Mohawk to explain its programs and readers to ask questions that will be answered by key Mohawk staff members.

The new blog, www.greenworksblog.com, went live in June, and will have regular postings on Greenworks programs.

"Greenworks puts us into a position where we can have some sustained conversations with consumers and dealers," Endrenyi said. "We're looking forward to that, because we believe we have some good things to say."

Mohawk is a leading supplier of flooring for both residential and commercial applications. Mohawk offers a complete selection of broadloom carpet, ceramic tile, laminate, wood, stone, vinyl, rugs and other home products. These products are marketed under the premier brands in the industry, which include Mohawk, Karastan, Ralph Lauren, Lees, Bigelow, Dal-Tile, American Olean and Quick-Step. Mohawk's unique merchandising and marketing assist our customers in creating the consumers' dream. Mohawk provides a premium level of service with its own trucking fleet and over 250 local distribution locations.