Floorcovering companies honored for ‘green’ efforts

Published 10:00 pm Tuesday, August 4, 2015

The floorcovering industry “really set the standard on sustainability,” says Santiago Montero, publisher of Floor Covering Weekly.

That’s why the trade publication created the GreenStep awards seven years ago to recognize the efforts the industry was making to conserve and reuse resources and to reduce its environmental impact.

“It’s something we are all very proud of. In the seven years we have been doing this we have had 21 winners,” Montero said. “They’ve ranged from the mighty big — Shaw Industries and Mohawk Industries, multibillion-dollar companies — to the mighty small.”

On Tuesday at the Dalton Holiday Inn and Suites, Floor Covering Weekly honored this year’s winners during its annual luncheon. From more than 60 entries, the judges chose three winners in four different categories. All three companies have won multiple GreenStep awards over the years.

“These three companies have demonstrated their commitment, have demonstrated their leadership,” said Montero.

Mohawk Industries received the Pinnacle award for its overall environmental achievements as well as the product award for its SmartStrand ForeverClean carpet.

Montero said Mohawk has put into place strict third-party certified standards in every phase of its business.

Jenny Cross, vice president of corporate sustainability for Mohawk Industries, accepted the awards.

“We’re very much dedicated to sustainability, and it’s very nice to see our efforts recognized,” she said. “It’s good business. It’s about profitability and staying in business, but it’s also about managing our resources wisely.”

Shaw Industries shared the award for product for its Life Happens collection featuring Lifeguard, a carpet protection system that covers the entire product.

Paul Murray, vice president of sustainability for Shaw Industries, accepted the award.

“It’s nice to be recognized for our efforts, and it helps our employees know that what they are doing really makes a difference,” he said.

Crossville Inc., a Tennessee-based manufacturer of tiles, received the award for process, for its Take Back recycling program, and the award for promotion for its sustainability report, the first ever issued by a tile-only manufacturer.

Chris Lombardo, a research engineer for the company, accepted the awards.

“This is very nice,” he said. “Getting this demolition tile back is very hard, hard on our factory, hard on our processes. But we do it because it is the right thing to do.”

In addition, Shaw Industries received an honorable mention for the Pinnacle award, and Mohawk Industries received honorable mentions for the process award for its Summerville facility, which recycles billions of plastic bottles annually into carpet, and for promotion for providing carpet for Homes for Heroes, Operation Finally Home and Building for America’s Bravest, which build homes for injured military veterans.