Carpet using recycled content Anso Nylon.
Evergreen Nylon Recycling by Shaw. The term "cradle to grave" describes the process by which consumer products are conventionally manufactured: we take raw materials from the earth, make products, and eventually send those products to overflowing landfills. Cradle-to-cradle production means that products can be collected and returned to manufacturing of the original product again and again. This company is well on the path toward achieving it. Manufacturing is committed to investing in technologies that move us to a cradle-to- cradle future, such as our Evergreen nylon recycling facility that recycles post-consume Nylon 6* carpets back into the raw material to make new carpet. Just as natural products can be returned to the earth for decomposition to make fertilizers in a cycle of renewal, cradle-to-cradle manufacturing mimics this process. The company believes that cradle-to-cradle is the path to true sustainability.
ECO Solution Q Nylon is a Type 6 nylon that has been used in commercial applications since 1995. EcoSolution Q is continuous filament fiber designed to meet the exacting criteria of the commercial market, from the aesthetic needs of the corporate office environment to the hygienic standards of health care installations. Post-end-user EcoSolution Q fiber will be recycled at Evergreen Nylon Recycling.
Solution Q Nylon is a Type 6 nylon also used in commercial applications. Solution Q does not contain recycled content but can be recycled into new fiber repeatedly.
everSTRAND Carpets. One in every four plastic bottles recycled in North America become luxuriously soft Mohawk carpet. Mohawk continuously seeks ways to recycle, reduce, reuse and renew. As a leader in flooring innovation, Mohawk recycles nearly three billion plastic bottles each year. And since 1999, more than 17 billion bottles have been recycled, keeping more than one billion pounds of plastic out of landfills. Mohawk’s everSTRAND™ carpet fiber, made using PET (polyethylene terephthalate) that is extruded from recycled plastic bottles, contain 100 percent post-consumer recycled content. Because plastic beverage bottles are made with top quality PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resins as required by the US Food & Drug Administration, the recycled product is superior to lower grades of synthetic fibers used in making other brands of carpet yarns. PET bottles are sorted, ground into fine chips, and then cleaned. These chips are then melted and extruded into fiber and spun into carpet yarn. Every aspect of the process is controlled by Mohawk resulting in the finest quality meeting the highest standards of performance. And it doesn’t end with the carpet - every part of the plastic bottle is recycled, including the cap, the label, and the bottle. The cap and the label are used to make carpet cores around which the carpet is wrapped. These are reused over and over again, unlike cardboard cores that would typically be discarded. The actual bottle is then used to make the PET carpet fiber. Fun Fact: On average, 30 plastic bottles are recycled to make one square yard of Mohawk everSTRAND™ carpet. (This number accounts for an average-sized bottle of water and average carpet weight; varies based on bottle size and carpet weight.)
SmartStrand® carpet with DuPont™ Sorona® renewably sourced polymer (now called Triextra). In a partnership with DuPont, this carpet exclusively offers fiber made with Bio-PDO™ (the key Sorona® ingredient), which is produced from corn sugar. By utilizing this new ingredient, 37 percent of Sorona® is being made from renewable resources. This marks the first time that a luxuriously soft carpet offers durability and stain protection, while also making less of an environmental impact. Why Is SmartStrand Environmentally Smart? DuPont™ Sorona® plays a major role in the worldwide objective of a renewable economy and represents a new frontier in sustainability. This carpet is environmentally smart because: The production of Sorona® polymer requires 30 percent less energy than the production of an equal amount of nylon; Greenhouse gas emissions from the production of Sorona® are 63 percent lower than nylon manufacturing; This energy reduction results in approximately one gallon of gasoline saved per every seven square yards of carpet. The superior stain resistance of SmartStrand® carpet is engineered into the fiber and will never wear or wash off, meaning consumers will never need to retreat the carpet with stain protectors after steam cleaning. And this engineered-in stain resistance reaches new levels of protection, allowing tough stains such as mustard, red wine, and cherry Kool-Aid® to be removed simply with warm water and a mild detergent, or with Mohawk FloorCare™ Essentials. The fiber even resists discoloration from bleach.