Carpet Firm Desso Adopts Cradle to Cradle

The Netherlands, April 14, 2009--International carpet company Desso, which has factories in Holland and Belgium, has adopted Cradle to Cradle manufacturing policies which will result in its products ending their usable life by being either completely biodegraded or recycled.

The firm has set out its environmental credentials in a Green Book made from recycled waste, bound with biodegradable thread, and embedded with annual and perennial wildflower seeds.

The Green Book is printed with water and soya-based ink and is also the new size of Desso’s sample carpet tiles – which have been reduced to a quarter of their previous size – saving raw materials, packaging and transport emissions.

In addition, the Green Book can be taken apart and planted – creating a carpet of wild flowers in a matter of weeks.

Desso’s broadloom and carpet tiles are certified under the Australian Ecolabel Program and hold a Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) licence.

The new environmental philosophy that Desso has adopted was first advanced in 2002 by the German chemist Michael Braungart and an American architect William McDonough in their book ‘Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.’

Its central premise is that products should be conceived from the start with intelligent design and the intention that they would eventually be recycled.  Time Magazine has called it “a unified philosophy that - in demonstrable and practical ways - is changing the design of the world.”
 
Cradle to Cradle means that valuable materials do not end up in landfill sites or incineration at the end of their supposed ‘lifetime’ or being ‘down-cycled’ into lower quality materials.  At the end of Desso carpets' useful lives, their components will be collected, reused or redeployed.
 
Desso is now closing in on that sustainable cycle by sourcing sustainable raw materials, introducing new manufacturing methods and collecting used carpets from its clients.
 
In March 2008, the company entered into a partnership with the Hamburg-based Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA - http://www.epea.com), the brainchild of Cradle to Cradle co-founder Michael Braungart.  EPEA encourages companies to assess their activities concerning sustainability, recycling, waste management and energy use – and make improvements throughout.

Waste recycling in the Desso's factories already exceeds 90%. The company's plants moved towards green energy during 2008 and Desso has launched a pioneering project to take back customers' carpet for reprocessing.
 
The company has also achieved Green Label Plus certification for its tiles and broadloom products.