Carpet's Sustainability Standard Established

Dalton, GA, November 2, 2007--The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has approved new standards for sustainable carpet, NSF 140-2007, as an American National Standard.

NSF 140-2007 is the first multi-attribute ANSI-approved standard for environmentally preferable building materials. The carpet industry is the first to have a unified sustainable standard for the entire U.S.

The purpose of the standard is to provide a market-based definition for sustainable carpet, and establish performance and environmental requirements for public health and environment, energy and energy efficiency, biobased, recycled content and EPP materials, manufacturing, and reclamation and end-of-life management.

For almost five years, a multi-stakeholder group, including federal and state government representatives, end users, manufacturers and other stakeholders, worked to define the criteria for a more sustainable carpet, under the guidance of NSF International.

NSF International, a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to public health and safety, is a world leader in standards development, product certification, education, and risk- management for public health and safety.

The first certified carpet is expected to be available by the middle of next year.