Mohawk GreenWorks Center

Each year, an estimated 6 billion pounds of carpet waste is sent to the landfill across North America. We have been working hard over the years to reduce and reuse as much of this waste as possible. The newest element in our continuing efforts is our GreenWorks Center. This center is unique in the industry because it can not only process nylon 6 waste material but all major types of synthetic carpet fiber — Nylon 6, Nylon 6.6, and Polypropylene. This accounts for approximately 90% of the national post-consumer carpet waste stream. The center processes 100% of the carpet—fiber, backing, and latex—and recovers about 90% of all materials into useable products. This is the highest recovery rate in the industry, approximately three times that of the next-best carpet recycling program. The facility is also portable, so it can go to the carpet, which makes recycling more feasible and environmentally efficient.

Additionally, part of every type of post-consumer carpet that enters the center will always go "carpet to carpet"—face fiber to face fiber, face fiber to backing, or backing to backing—with the remaining materials resulting in engineered resins that can be shipped to the plastics industry for use in consumer products. This means that the majority of materials processed at the center are part of a "closed-loop" system. The center can also process certain thermoplastic non-carpet recyclables, which makes it even more attractive to recycling companies.

The GreenWorks Center is now open in Chatsworth, Georgia but other locations can be built easily and quickly due to the center's portable and scalable design. Because the plants can be built anywhere, recyclers can keep fuel and transportation costs down by being close to any GreenWorks processing center, furthering the environmental efficiency of the entire process.