LaGrange, GA, June 7, 2007--InterfaceFLOR said it will preview new products starting in June that represent the first commercial carpet made from post-consumer, recycled nylon 6,6 fiber. InterfaceFLOR said it has formed an exclusive, international alliance with an Italian-American company to introduce a patent-pending technology that allows for effective and affordable reclamation of nylon 6,6 in order to recycle it for use in the commercial market.
Through the new technology, InterfaceFLOR will now be able to reclaim all types of carpet from both the commercial and residential marketplaces, regardless of the type of face fiber or backing used, thereby reducing waste sent to landfills and further reducing the company’s reliance on virgin materials. This represents further progress in the company’s Mission Zero™ promise to eliminate any negative environmental impact it may have by the year 2020.
The new technology was developed in Italy by Sergio Dell’Orco and Frank J. Levy, co-owners of Post Consumer Carpet Processing Technologies LLC (PCC). Their 40-year background in textile recycling processes and technology was critical to creating a customized system for the carpet industry. They chose to bring this technology to InterfaceFLOR as their preferred ally in implementing this technology.
“One technological hurdle the industry has faced is the ability to separate carpet face fiber from backing in a way that preserves the materials in a pure enough form for recycling, and in a way that is economically feasible,” said David Hobbs, president of InterfaceFLOR Commercial. “Our industry as a whole has particularly struggled with developing a viable way to recycle nylon 6,6, the most prevalent fiber used in the commercial market. Through close collaboration with PCC we were able to implement an innovative technology that represents a breakthrough for our industry and furthers our progress toward eliminating virgin materials in our products.”
Working in conjunction with Universal Fibers, Inc., nylon 6,6 from reclaimed sources will be recycled for use in InterfaceFLOR products. Vinyl backing from the reclaimed carpet will be recycled into backing for InterfaceFLOR products via our Cool Blue™ backing technology. InterfaceFLOR has identified streams of use for other types of carpet face and backing material that will be reclaimed, such as nylon 6, polyester or polypropylene, thus eliminating the need for any type of carpet to ever go to a landfill or an incinerator in the future. A market leader in recycled nylon systems, Universal has worked with InterfaceFLOR for more than 10 years in the development of post-industrial nylon. Now, with its own breakthrough technology, Universal has developed the ability to process first quality solution dyed, post consumer nylon 6,6 fibers.
Design Evolution Continues
InterfaceFLOR will show the first in a collection of new products at the NeoCon World Trade Fair in June, with a comprehensive product roll-out in the Fall. Dubbed ReEntropy™, the collection represents the next step in the evolution of the Entropy® product line, one of InterfaceFLOR’s most successful products on the market during the last several years. The concept of entropy represents things that are chaotic, constantly changing and consistently evolving, and this new product line represents the technological enhancements that make it possible. The original Entropy product, based on the concept of Biomimicry (how nature would create a floor), established a new industry category of non-directional modular flooring and quickly became InterfaceFLOR’s best selling product line. The ReEntropy line, designed by David Oakey, will reflect that heritage of non-directional patterns that have proven to reduce installation waste and time, and have mergeable dye lots to allow for single-tile replacement as necessary.
Materials Re-Use, Energy Benefits
Early estimates predict that InterfaceFLOR can divert 30 million pounds of carpet from landfills annually with this new technology, and even more as additional machines come online. Carpet will be reclaimed via the company’s ReEntry® Carpet Reclamation Program that to date has diverted more than 84 million pounds of carpet from landfills solely by taking back products from projects where the Interface flooring brands were being installed. Today, however, InterfaceFLOR can reclaim carpet from any source. “If you’re not using your carpet any more, even if you’re not buying ours, we want it back from you to recycle the components,” said Hobbs.
And according to John Wells, president and CEO of Interface Americas, all of the Interface companies could eventually benefit from this new process and technology.
“This is a big step for the Interface companies, and our ultimate goal is to use this post-consumer yarn system in products throughout all of our companies,” explained Mr. Wells.
With nylon 6,6 the primary fiber used by InterfaceFLOR, it has long been a goal to find the means to recycle the fiber back into useable nylon 6,6 fiber. Through its Cool Blue backing line, InterfaceFLOR maintained an interim process to re-use the nylon components; however, this system did not represent the ideal solution of recycling existing nylon 6,6 fiber back into new nylon 6,6 fiber. “The key for us was to find a system that could extract carpet components with as little contamination as possible between the face fiber and backing, and done in a way that used the least amount of energy possible,” said Stuart Jones, vice president of research for Interface Americas. “Technologies have existed in the past, yet the trade-offs were too great in our mission to increase re-use of materials while decreasing our energy footprint.”
