Saving Carpet, Preserving the Planet
Mohawk Industries Closes the Loop on Sustainable Practices with New GreenWorks Recycling Center
CHICAGO, Nov. 7, 2007 — Landfill loads have just gotten lighter and the environment has Mohawk Industries to thank. Committed to helping divert the more than six billion pounds of carpet that weigh heavy on North American landfills every year, the flooring industry's largest recycler will show Chicago how it's done when it unveils the new GreenWorks Center at Greenbuild 2007, November 7-9. An innovative, scalable recycling model, GreenWorks Center is the first of its kind to not only process all major types of synthetic carpet fiber — accounting for 90 percent of the nation's post-consumer carpet waste — but also the only recycling program to recover 90 percent of those materials into useable products.
"Environmental responsibility does not begin nor end with eco-friendly products; it's an ongoing process that requires a ceaseless commitment from everyone involved," said Diann Barbacci, vice president of sustainable design for The Mohawk Group, Mohawk Industries' commercial business. "With our GreenWorks Center in place, we now offer a complete solution to help our customers and the environment at every stage of the cycle — from sustainable product manufacturing and recovery practices to recycling programs that recover these products back into themselves or other useable products."
Getting Out What You Put In
GreenWorks Center reclaims all major types of synthetic fiber — Nylon 6, Nylon 6,6, and Polypropylene — that make up 90 percent of the carpet industry's waste stream, helping to reduce the industry's environmental footprint while increasing carpeting's recovery rate. In fact, at 90 percent, GreenWorks Center has the highest recovery rate in the industry, nearly three times that of its closest competitor. Regardless of manufacturer, yardage or yarn system, the Center works with the C.A.R.E. (Carpet America Recovery Effort) initiative and Mohawk's own ReCover reclamation program to reclaim carpet.
Leveraging advanced recycling technology, GreenWorks Center will process 100 percent of the carpet it receives, including fiber, backing and latex. It will also manage a variety of thermoplastic non-carpet recyclables, helping to further minimize the amount of carpet that finds its way to the landfills. The majority of recycled material processed at the Center will go "carpet to carpet" — face fiber to backing, backing to backing, and in the near future face fiber to face fiber. Providing a broad array of solutions across both residential and commercial applications, Mohawk Industries currently produces more than 500 products composed of recycled content. In fact, as it continues to drive momentum for sustainable design, in 2008 the company will introduce post-consumer recycled content processed through GreenWorks into its latest commercial carpet backing innovation, Encycle RE®, the industry's only carpet tile backing system that is 100 percent thermoplastic, PVC-free and recyclable back into itself without separation.
Closing the Loop
A complete eco-friendly process that ensures minimal materials go to waste, GreenWorks is the only center to reclaim all major types of synthetic fiber in one facility. Along with the reclaimed materials that will go carpet-to-carpet, the Center will process a percentage of the materials to be used in Engineered Resins that are shipped to Mohawk's Engineered Resin partners. This material can then be used to produce chair components, consumer accessory products for lawn equipment, storage containers and hundreds of other valuable plastic components containing post consumer content (electrical outlets, hub caps, gears, engine components, etc.).
Sustainable and Scalable
"The GreenWorks Center is designed with the environment and our customers in mind," said Frank Endrenyi, vice president of sustainable development for Mohawk Industries. "Recycling carpet can be a time-consuming and costly process, particularly when adding up the fuel costs amid skyrocketing gasoline prices for transporting carpeting to designated reclamation facilities across the country. The real beauty of GreenWorks is its flexibility — we can bring our recycling technology right to the carpet."
The first GreenWorks Center is now open in Chatsworth, Ga., and other locations can be built easily and quickly due to the Center's flexible and scalable design. Furthering the environmental efficiency of the entire process, recyclers can keep fuel and transportation costs down by strategically locating their operations close to any GreenWorks processing center.
A long-standing industry leader in sustainability, The Mohawk Group pioneers a strong focus on driving environmentally sound practices inside and outside of its facilities. The global flooring manufacturer continues to make significant investments in state-of-the-art technologies to enable the creation of life enhancing, eco-friendly products and processes. For more information about Mohawk's sustainable initiatives, visit www.MohawkGreenWorks.com.