Partnership Diverts Carpet from Landfill

Dulles, VA, July 15, 2008--The combined efforts of Potomac Floor Covering and Vornado/Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty diverted more than 228,000 pounds of commercial carpet from January 2006 through March of 2008.

Potomac became a "zero to landfill" carpet contractor in 2007. But the partnership with Vornado/CE Smith began in 2005 with a 60,000 square foot office project for FEMA, before reclamation was an option for Potomac customers.

"We started offering reclamation as an alternative to the landfill in January 2006 in order to give customers the opportunity to do the right thing for the environment," says Gerry Swift, executive vice president of Potomac Floor Covering.

"Unfortunately, due to the added cost of reclamation, we had to charge our customers. Needless to say, we didn't have any takers."

A year later, Potomac contracted with RM Brokerage in Alexandria, Va. (a member of the Starnet Worldwide Commercial Flooring Partnership service provider network), lowered the costs involved with reclamation and by mid-2007 declared themselves "zero landfill."

Collected in transfer trailers, the carpet is sent to the local CARE (Carpet America Recovery Effort) certified recycler, RM Brokerage in Alexandria.

The majority of the material is made into industrial products including composite lumber (decking and sheets), tile backing, roofing shingles, railroad ties, automotive parts, carpet padding and landscape stones. Anything that is not recyclable is clean-burned for energy.