Chicago, IL, Jun. 14--Today at NeoCon in Chicago, Tandus, a leading manufacturer of commercial floorcoverings, unveiled ethos, another in a long history of industry firsts. Ethos is a high recycled content, cushion backing for six-foot broadloom carpet and soon to be released recycled content cushion modular tiles created by Tandus Technologies for the C&A Floorcoverings brand.
Ethos, a non-chlorinated thermoplastic terpolymer created from reclaimed PVB film used in laminated safety glass, is an alternative to other structured backings, such as EVA, polyurethane, polyolefin and PVC. The ethos cushion backing system contains 96% post-consumer recycled content. Overall, C&A products made with ethos contain 40-62% recycled content, with a minimum of 40% post-consumer content. C&A employs the Infinity Initiative, its existing closed-loop recycling process, to manufacture and recycle ethos.
"Tandus Technologies, our research and development group, has been evaluating alternative backing polymers for a number of years," said Mac Bridger, CEO of Tandus. "It's part of our culture and our heritage that we provide our customers with a choice of products at a comparable cost that suit their specific needs without compromising our products' performance."
It was a customer relationship that helped accelerate the development timeline of ethos. In 2002, Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest nonprofit health plan, issued a Request for Proposal for floorcoverings, specifying its intent to phase out the use of products containing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) without forfeiting any performance characteristics. C&A was the first carpet manufacturer to respond with a viable alternative that met these criteria.
"Kaiser Permanente was instrumental to Tandus as we gained insight and feedback regarding the prototype of many product opportunities and incorporated those findings into our research and product development," said Bridger. "We've learned, as Kaiser Permanente has, that when you willingly collaborate to induce change, the rate of success is so much higher than when change is forced. Our partnership is a perfect example--there is no question that Kaiser Permanente's leadership and willingness to work with us accelerated this process."
Kaiser Permanente reviewed the product carefully with The Healthy Building Network before approving ethos for use in Kaiser Permanente's healthcare facilities.
"Kaiser Permanente has a history of commitment to environmental health--for the safety and well-being of our employees and our patients, and for the good of the community," said Kathy Gerwig, Director, Environmental Stewardship and National Environmental, Health and Safety Operation, for Kaiser Permanente.
Tandus and C&A have long been committed to finding the next evolution in carpet backing. Although several alternative polymers met some of C&A's stringent performance and environmental criteria, none met all of the company's requirements.
Ultimately, ethos meets or exceeds the traditionally superior performance of PVC backings without chlorine or phthalates, does not contain antimicrobial pesticides, incorporates high post-consumer recycled content and is 100% closed-loop recyclable into carpet backing.
Ethos is created from the PVB film reclaimed from laminated safety glass after its useful life. Many manufacturers have recycled the glass for many years, but few had delved in to additional uses for recovered PVB. C&A is the first manufacturer to mine this abundant waste stream to recycle the thermoplastic resin into a high-performance carpet backing.
This new backing allows customers to have a high-performance, environmentally preferable, aesthetically pleasing carpet that can be recycled infinitely, reducing the production of virgin materials and keeping products from being landfilled. Additionally, 100% recyclable products from C&A's closed-loop recycling program are guaranteed not to be landfilled or incinerated (including waste-to-energy) when returned to C&A, eliminating disposal of carpet to the nation's landfills.
"C&A offers recycled content backing and total product recycled content in every product, every time, and every product is 100% recyclable--today--with existing programs and equipment, into new carpeting. Our recycling program isn't based on future expectations or capabilities," said Bridger.
Because it utilizes recycled material, ethos reduces the need for harvesting valuable virgin materials, including petrochemicals. In addition, all C&A products have a very low and dense face fiber construction, meaning that C&A uses considerably less nylon fiber than typical carpet constructions, which significantly reduces virgin material use.
With lower embodied energy and lower environmental impact than current commercial backings, ethos also has exceptional performance throughout its lifecycle. Tandus has engaged Elements and Franklin Associates, Ltd., well-known independent environmental consultants, to perform life cycle studies on the product.
Among its other attributes, carpets made with ethos feature:
--Extremely low VOC emissions.
--More than 96% post consumer recycled content in the secondary backing.
--A guaranteed 40% to 62% recycled content for the entire product (with a minimum of 40% post consumer content), including styles that incorporate recycled content yarns.
All of C&A's recycled content product lines contain post-consumer content and have a required minimum 31% recycled content overall.
Extensive testing and field installations have confirmed that ethos performs to the same high standards as C&A's Powerbond products. In addition to outstanding appearance retention, carpet made with ethos will not zipper, edge-ravel, or delaminate, and it provides an impermeable moisture barrier.
