Beaulieu of Australia Wins Green Award

Brisbane, Australia, May 18, 2006--Beaulieu of Australia was recognized for leadership and innovation in business sustainability at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Sustainable Industries Awards held recently in Brisbane, Australia. Beaulieu was one of four finalists, and the only textile manufacturer selected for the Industrial Eco-Efficiency Award from a field of more than 100 manufacturing organizations. Beaulieu’s manager of environmentally sustainable design, Michael Kane, said he was delighted that the vision and dedication of the Beaulieu’s team led by managing director Bob Vos and manufacturing manager Wayne Bankier, established the most ecologically efficient carpet manufacturing operation in Australia in just three short years. The Beaulieu of Australia environmentally sustainable design textile floor coverings programmes consist of five product groups specifically engineered to give optimum environmental outcomes and floor performance in their designated end-use applications. These are Healthcare, Education, Hospitality, Sports & Entertainment Facilities and Office Accommodation. All Beaulieu ESD textile floor coverings are manufactured in Australia at Beaulieu’s “dry” mill established in 2003 at Yatala in Queensland. The eco-efficiency of Beaulieu’s manufacturing exceeds world’s best practice by a considerable margin. The U.S. Carpet & Rug Institute’s 2003 Sustainability Report cites: --Best practice water consumption at 40.3 litres/m2 of carpet produced; Beaulieu operate at <1.0 litre/m2. Similarly with energy: --World’s best practice is quoted at 3,611kWh/1,000m2 of carpet produced; Beaulieu’s total electricity and gas consumption is less than 1,100 kWh/1,000m2 Beaulieu have developed and built their own backing system for their ESD products using the U.S. Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus as the environmental benchmark. This has resulted in 2 impervious backing options, MediBac and EcoBac, both based on sustainable modified acrylic polymer technology. These are combined exclusively with solution dyed nylon face fibres to produce the Beaulieu ESD textile floor coverings which all meet or exceed California’s Section 01350 Low Emitting Materials Criteria, the required VOC limit values for CRI Green Label Plus and in addition, Beaulieu have eliminated the following chemicals of concern--PVC, Chlorine, 4PCH, and SBR latex.

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