Mohawk’s New Plastic Carpet Cores are Recycled and

Dalton, GA, October 20, 2006--It proved to be a “win-win” situation. As part of its philosophy of continually looking at everything it does to see if there’s a way to do it better, Mohawk took a deep look into its carpet packaging—all the way to the core. The company discovered that conventional paper carpet cores would sometimes fail and damage carpet. It also discovered that it had plastic scrap material that just might have a new use. So Mohawk began recycling carpet edge trim, soft drink bottle caps, and stretch film that comes as shrink wrap on pallets into tough, durable plastic carpet cores. The new plastic cores were more resistant to breakage and lasted three times longer. And by using the cores from recycled plastics, Mohawk estimates that it saves more than 68,000 trees per year. When the plastic cores reach the point where they are no longer useable, they are ground up and mixed with other scrap to make new plastic carpet cores. “It’s always a positive when you can reduce your company’s waste,” said David Duncan, Vice President of Marketing for Mohawk. “It’s an added bonus when you improve your product and customer service when you do so. That’s what we’ve been able to accomplish with our carpet core program. Mohawk recycles much of its own waste—and that of others—into useful product streams. The company recycles plastic soft drink bottles into polyester for carpet fiber. It takes waste carpet and yarn and turns them into carpet cushion. It recycles old tires into door mats. Sustainability initiatives like these and others are underway for residential and commercial product lines.