The building interior furnishings market is forging headlong into the green movement of environmentally responsible fixtures, furnishings, construction and building operation. 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 and carpet in particular actually is a leader in the real green movement. Polyester carpet is largely made by recycling plastic bottles, Mohawk being one of the largest recyclers of them. Tandus C& A recycles carpet tiles to remake new carpet tiles. Shaw has invested in recycling plants. Dow has tapped theDaltonlandfills for methane gas to power their plant. UTT uses Soy Bean oil in their polyurethane backings that go 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 the fact when listening to the green story and that’s not always easy to do. Everyone wants to jump on the green band wagon.
Going green will have its challenges. Many of the new backings on wide width goods using recycled content are non-permeable. If 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 explicitly follow the manufacturers’ instructions for installation. You will also be seeing several new installation technologies and backings systems, many of them LGM is assisting in developing. 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 a polymer applied eliminating the need for adhesives, cushion or tackstrip. Available on any type of carpet, wide or narrow width, Free Lay technology is already being successfully marketed byBentley Prince Streetunder their name of Contact Release. Fewer components used for installation help make flooring green.
Aside from using recycled content and technologies that use less energy and fewer components the easiest and best way to go green is to prevent waste in the first place and that’s actually a very easy thing to do. The key is to sell or specify the right product into the right place, installed onto a properly prepared substrate in an environment conditioned to maintain the integrity of the product and the installation and the 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. The single largest source of waste – flooring material replaced prematurely because someone was ignorant, in a hurry or had no common sense creating conditions that force a replacement, justified or not. 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. Claiming something is green may have nothing to do with it actually being green. There’s a lot of talking going on that isn’t necessarily factual. Bottom line is that being truly green means not wasting resources, energy and time.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts