Architect, Designer & Builder Carpet Sustainability Facts

Carpet Comes With Responsibility Built In.

~The Facts about Carpet and Sustainability for Architects, Designers and Builders

This is the 14th in a series of 18 articles is designed to share some of the Carpet and Rug Institute’s (CRI) best online assets – a collection of downloadable fact sheets.

Developed as easy-to-use, one-page position statements, the CRI Fact Sheets cover four main carpet-related topic areas: Indoor Air Quality, Asthma and Allergy, Cleaning Products, and Environmental Sustainability.

Each of these topics is addressed from the perspective of various market segments: carpet dealers and consumers; architects, designers and builders; school administrators and facility managers, and healthcare administrators and facility managers. There are also separate fact sheets explaining CRI’s Green Label Plus Indoor Air Quality and Seal of Approval carpet cleaning standards – 18 fact sheets in all.

The fact sheet on sustainability for architects, designers and builders begins,

“Carpet is designed to look great and last for years. The carpet industry is also designing ways to reduce its carbon footprint. Manufacturers are voluntarily addressing this problem by recycling old carpet materials into new carpet production or alternative uses such as building materials and auto parts. As well as refurbishing old carpet into new carpet tiles. Because less waste means a better future for us all.” It continues:

What You Should Know About Carpet Sustainability Facts for Architects, Designers and Builders:

• Through the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), carpet companies are taking the initiative to work with government entities and product suppliers to develop market-based solutions for the recycling and use of post-consumer carpet. For more information, visit carpetrecovery.org.

• It is estimated that carpet recycling efforts currently have saved more than 1.5 billion pounds of waste from being deposited in U.S. landfills.

• You can earn LEED points by incorporating salvaged materials– such as refurbished, reused or recycled carpet – into plans for new construction or renovation. Recycled content carpet meets the same industry performance standards, and carries the same manufacturer warranties, as carpet without recycled content.

• The industry has also taken steps to be more green in carpet production. It is one of the only industries in the United States that voluntarily meets the Kyoto Protocol for carbon dioxide emissions. The emissions level today is the same as it was in 1990 – even though the industry produces 47 percent more product.

• The amount of energy used to produce a square yard of carpet has fallen 70% since 1990. The amount of water used has dropped 46% in the same time period.

• The carpet industry is constantly looking for ways to continue to reduce its environmental footprint. Learn more in the CRI Sustainability Reports on the CRI website.

CRI wants to be known not just as the science-based source of information about carpet, but as the first stop for any and all questions about this useful floor covering.

Click on this link for the complete list of Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) Downloadable Fact Sheets.

Next – The facts about sustainability for school administrators and facility managers.

~Bethany