Mohawk Focusing on Environmental Leadership

Dalton, GA, August 8, 2007--For years, Mohawk has focused on environmentally friendly business practices that benefit the consumer, the environment, and the bottom line.

For example, since 1999, Mohawk has recycled more than 17 billion plastic bottles for use in its PET (polyethylene terephthalate) carpet. With increased consumer interest in protecting the environment, Mohawk wants consumers to know that there are a variety of high-quality green options when it comes to flooring.

"It's easy to say you're green, but it's not so easy to actually be green," said Frank Endrenyi, vice president of sustainable development at Mohawk Industries. "We're thrilled to offer consumers top-of-the line flooring that has a proven green story to go along with it."

"We're taking carpet fiber literally from the field to the floor," said Jeffrey S. Lorberbaum, chairman and chief executive officer, Mohawk Industries. "We're looking forward to giving our industry another remarkable innovation -- one that will benefit our consumers, and the environment."

Mohawk eco-friendly products and practices include recycling programs, use of renewable fuels, and energy- and emission-cutting efforts. As the largest recycler in the flooring industry, Mohawk diverts more than three billion pounds of pre- and post- consumer waste from landfills each year. More than 500 Mohawk products -- carpet, carpet tiles, laminates, and ceramic tile -- contain recycled materials.

Mohawks' everStrand PET carpet is made from 100% post-consumer materials--fiber from the three billion plastic bottles that it recycles each year. That's one in every four recycled plastic bottles in North America.

At its Greenworks Center in Chatsworth, Georgia, Mohawk also recycles old carpet removed from office buildings and homes across the country, and then processes it into the plastics industry as well as other applications such as carpet cores. Carpet is rolled around these cores for transportation and storage. Typically, carpet cores are made from cardboard and discarded after each use.

Mohawk can process all major types of synthetic carpet fiber: nylon, polyester, and polypropylene. Also, the Mohawk Greenworks Center uses patent pending technology to process 100% of the carpet -- fiber, backing, and latex -- and recover 90% of all materials for reuse.

In a partnership with DuPont, Mohawk will launch a new carpet that will be partly produced from renewable corn sources rather than petroleum.

The company said that every seven yards of carpet saves the equivalent of a gallon of gasoline.

Mohawk is promoting its green efforts under the "Mohawk Greenworks" umbrella.