Sustainability News

InterfaceFLOR teams with AQUAFIL to achieve carpet tiles with 100% non-virgin yarn

The unlikeliest types of materials are ingeniously finding their way into several of the newest modular carpet tile introductions for 2011 from InterfaceFLOR. Reclaimed carpet fiber from the company’s ReEntry 2.0 process is being combined with fiber derived from salvaged commercial fishnets plus post-industrial waste and is processed by Aquafil, one of InterfaceFLOR’s global yarn suppliers. The resulting yarn is 100 percent non-virgin and contains a minimum 25 percent post-consumer yarn content. What’s more, when combined with GlasBac® RE, InterfaceFLOR’s non-virgin PVC backing, it yields carpet tiles with total recycled content of 79 percent.

The 100 percent non-virgin type 6 Nylon yarn produced by Aquafil performs just as robustly as yarns made with virgin fiber. For its part, InterfaceFLOR is supplying recycled yarn from its ReEntry 2.0 facility in LaGrange, GA, where, since 1994, the company has reclaimed more than 220 million pounds of used carpet that might otherwise have ended up in landfill.

InterfaceFLOR sharing its recycling savvy with expansion of ReEntry®

InterfaceFLOR is taking its carpet recycling know-how on the road by forming alliances with regional carpet recycling operations throughout North America. The first of these relationships is with Canadian-based Aspera Recycling Inc. InterfaceFLOR is providing technical assistance that will help them implement a ReEntry-type system to recycle end-of-life carpet tiles and broadloom into reusable fiber and PVC backing that go into InterfaceFLOR products.

Since 1994, InterfaceFLOR has reclaimed more than 100 million kilograms of used carpet in North America, recycling much of it into the production of its own modular carpet tile products. This extraordinary feat takes place at InterfaceFLOR’s ReEntry 2.0 facility in LaGrange, GA, just outside of Atlanta and nearby the company’s corporate headquarters. In the process of harvesting old carpet—both its own end-of-life modular carpet tiles plus competitors’ tiles and broadloom discards from residential and commercial properties—InterfaceFLOR has created something of a micro-industry.

Now the company is eyeing regional carpet recyclers, like Aspera, with whom it can share its expertise and establish similar operations. In addition to this initial rollout in Toronto, expansion is planned later this year in a few key U.S. markets. A master plan calls for even more locations throughout the coming years.

“Taking our ReEntry experience and helping to foster the development of regional recycling operations is part of InterfaceFLOR’s long-range vision to secure our supply chain and ensure we’ll have plentiful access to the recycled materials needed for our flooring products throughout the future,” explained John Wells, company president. “We’ve pledged to be Off Oil by 2020, which may seem absurdist for a manufacturer of carpeting, a product which traditionally has been petroleum based. But, in fulfilling our mission,” Wells continued, “we’ve been developing and perfecting ways to take the tons and tons of old, used carpet that’s out there and recycle it into our own products. Our LaGrange facility has proven how effectively this can be accomplished, and now we’re ready to help spread this capability throughout the U.S. and Canada, and beyond.”

InterfaceFLOR ReEntry recycling technology can be replicated on different scales. It is this flexibility that is enabling the company to team with regional recyclers who are interested in growing their operations and together finding appropriate existing building locations.

“The Canadian carpet recycling landscape is a few years behind that of the U.S.,” explained Richard White, president of Aspera. “By adopting the tried and true technology platforms of the industry leader, InterfaceFLOR, Aspera is establishing itself at the forefront of carpet recycling and waste diversion in this country. We couldn’t be more delighted to have such a strong technology partner.” He added, “With waste diversion on the minds and agendas of both government and the consumer, there is finally a viable and credible solution for the Canadian market which will meet the zero waste to landfill mandate.”

In fact, given recent stirrings among lawmakers both in Canada and in the U.S., the ReEntry expansion is timely. Updates to waste diversion legislation, including banning of used carpet from landfills, are currently under review in several provincial jurisdictions in Canada, where currently 99% of post-consumer carpet and 95% of commercial carpet, including carpet tile, are landfill-bound. Although some local collection does occur, until now there have been no active processors in Canada. Most used carpet is shipped back to U.S. manufacturers, according to a report issued by the Canadian Carpet Recovery Effort (CCRE). So, the establishment of a ReEntry-based recycling operation will offer not only a more sustainable but also a more economical solution for the area.

Similar carpet recycling legislation is looming in the U.S., as well. California Assembly Bill #2398 went into effect July 1, 2011 and it requires carpet companies to assume responsibility for the end of their products’ lifecycles. Another 10-to-15 states also are in the process of considering legislation governing the disposal of carpet.

EcoMetrics® and SocioMetrics™ at the Core of Tracking Interface Inc.’s Advancement Toward Sustainability

Company Chairman and Founder Ray Anderson coined the term EcoMetrics when Interface embarked on its sustainability journey in 1994. Since then, the company has assessed its manufacturing facilities annually, measuring how much material and energy it consumes, and what comes out in the form of products and waste. The organization is simultaneously taking three paths on this journey—defined by reductions in its environmental footprint, dedication to product innovation and commitment to culture.

Footprint Reduction

EcoMetrics indicators include physical waste, energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions, and water consumption. Each Interface plant tracks and reports on hundreds of metrics quarterly. Results are rolled up on a company-wide level and reported annually to track progress. Key 2010 data includes the following:

Total energy used at manufacturing facilities -- per unit of product -- is down 43 percent since 1996. Interface is striving to improve energy efficiency, utilizing energy metering and process analysis, to reduce energy usage and decrease energy costs. Using less energy to fulfill the same business functions helps reduce the company’s impact.
Thirty percent of Interface’s total energy use comes from renewable sources. Interface is striving to maximize its use of renewable energy, including the electricity generated by three on-site photovoltaic arrays and locally sourced landfill gas. In 2010, eight of nine manufacturing facilities used 100 percent green electricity.
Actual greenhouse gas emissions at manufacturing facilities have been reduced by 35 percent from a 1996 baseline. Interface’s energy efficiency and direct purchases of renewable energy have resulted in a cumulative reduction of twenty-four thousand metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from baseline. This amount is the equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 612,641 tree seedlings grown for 10 years, according to the U.S. EPA’s “Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.”
Waste sent to landfill per unit of product decreased by 82 percent since 1996. Interface sent about 1,632 tonnes of waste to landfills in 2010 -- less than one percent of the total raw materials it purchased.
Water intake per unit of product has reduced by 82 percent since 1996. Last year less than 267 million litres of water were used at Interface global manufacturing sites. This metric includes all water used in manufacturing processes, as well as for drinking and sanitary use.

Product Innovation

Interface is moving away from a take-make-waste industrial model, toward a cyclical business inspired by nature. The organization’s journey toward sustainability is driven by research and development in manufacturing processes and product innovation. EcoMetrics also tracks percentage of recycled and bio-based materials in products, as well as benefits from products that are leading to more efficient, less harmful, ways to conduct business. During 2010, product-focused EcoMetrics included:

ReEntry® 2.0, a process that reclaims old carpet and converts it into recycled raw materials, diverted 12,500 tonnes of carpet from landfills in 2010. Since 1995, ReEntry has diverted a cumulative total of 103,434 tonnes of carpet and carpet scraps. Additionally, the company’s ReEntry 2.0 reclamation process recently expanded to the company’s European operations in the Netherlands.
Forty percent of raw materials used were from recycled or bio-based sources. Interface strives to maximize its use of recycled and bio-based raw materials, utilizing thorough compatibility and footprint analysis to evaluate material alternatives. In the past six years, the percentage of recycled and bio-based raw material use has grown from four percent to forty percent.
Twenty-six million square metres of the company’s climate-neutral Cool Carpet ™ were sold. This program neutralizes the impact of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the entire lifecycle of the product through the purchase and retirement of offsets. Interface purchased 433 thousand metric tonnes of offset credits from verified emission reduction projects around the world.

Inspired Culture

SocioMetrics collects data in several key areas that track the company’s social capital and investment in people, including the company’s employees and local community members. Measurement takes into account the time and initiative the company commits to philanthropy and volunteering. Last year Interface employees devoted more than 8,000 hours to volunteering initiatives.

Through a project called “Together We Can Reuse It,” Interface employees in Thailand demonstrated waste recycling by creating an inventive new purpose for waste yarn—turning the material into knitted dolls. Employees made and sold dolls, generating proceeds that were then donated to a non-profit foundation. Interface expanded the project beyond the company to benefit the local community in Thailand’s Surin province by teaching the craft to community members, providing them with a new potential source of income.

Another initiative involved the sponsoring of a start-up business in the United States to make tote bags out of carpet scraps, employing 15 people in the City of Valley, Ala. These heavy-duty tote bags were extremely popular with customers; and through the new venture, these “one of a kind” bags became available to the public. The new business was set up to operate inside Valley’s historic Langdale Mill, an abandoned textile factory, creating new jobs for the local community.