Dalton, GA, September 11, 2006--C&A Floorcoverings, a Tandus company, reported that it has earned Platinum Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP) certification on two entire product lines, ER3(R) modular tiles and ethos cushion rolls and Gold EPP certification on its ER3 cushion rolls and ER3C-10 (ER3 Cushion rolls containing 10% post consumer content) product lines. Additionally, ER3 modular tiles, ER3C-10 and ethos cushion rolls have achieved certification to the California Gold Sustainable Carpet Standard.
"At Tandus, we have long asked our customers to measure us by our accomplishments, not by our goals," said Mac Bridger, CEO of Tandus. "These certifications are the result of many years of hard work and demonstrate that what is right environmentally can also make very good business sense."
C&A earned product certifications to the new Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard (SCAS) under Scientific Certification Systems' (SCS) Sustainable Choice Program. SCS, an internationally respected, neutral third party testing and certification organization, is dedicated to evaluating a variety of environmental and food safety claims. C&A pioneered the use of third-party certification in the floorcoverings industry in 2000 when it began working with SCS to certify the recycled content and recyclability of its products. Since then, SCS has conducted ongoing assessment and analysis of C&A products and on-site audits of C&A's recycling and manufacturing operations.
The carpet industry is working to standardize one "environmental standard" for carpet, the Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard (SCAS), also referred to as Draft Standard NSF-140:2005. SCAS has four certification levels--Bronze, Silver, Gold/EPP and Platinum/EPP. The standard is designed to address all key stages of the product life cycle and incorporate environmental and human health issues. The standard evaluates a product in six key areas: Public Health and The Environment; Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency; BioBased/Recycled Content; Manufacturing; Reclamation/End of Life Management; and Innovation.
"C&A was the first carpet company to truly embrace independent, third-party certification of environmental claims. At the core of any 'innovative new product' is an innovative company that is willing to break new ground and pursue strategies that ultimately benefit the end user," said Kirsten T. Ritchie, PE, director, environmental claims certification for SCS.
Third-party certification of products assists customers in making informed decisions about the environmental attributes of building materials and can be included in specifications as a part of the product evaluation and submittal process. For more information, visit the SCS website at http://www.scscertified.com.
The State of California's Department of General Services developed and implemented a modified version of SCAS that includes additional requirements called the California Gold Sustainable Carpet Standard. This standard requires products to meet, at minimum, the Gold/EPP level of the SCAS standard and contain 10% total post consumer content, among other requirements.
The California Gold standard applies to broadloom and tile purchased by the state of California. This standard raises the bar for environmentally preferable carpet products and will encourage manufacturers to increase the environmental attributes of their products. The state hopes implementation of the standard will reduce the amount of carpet going into California landfills.
Housed at Tandus' Center for Environmental Innovation, C&A's recycling program recycles any post-consumer vinyl-backed carpet, regardless of original manufacturer, into recycled content backing for new floorcoverings. All C&A products receiving certification are 100% recyclable today and are currently being recycled in C&A's existing closed-loop carpet recycling process.
