Tandus Using Windshield Waste in Tile Backing

Dalton, GA, Nov. 23, 2009--Tandus now has a modular carpet backing uses industrial waste from the manufacture of car windshields and safety glass.

The firm has been incorporating the polymer in six-foot goods since 2004. The new development expands it to carpet tile.

Tandus collaborated with Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest non-profit healthcare provider and a Tandus customer, to engineer and test the thermoplastic polymer in high-endurance installations in Kaiser facilities.

Tandus can now stake claim as the first company to reclaim the high-performance material that previously had no commercial end-of-life application.

Ethos, derived from the film layer of shatterproof glass, is a non-chlorinated thermoplastic that can be closed-loop recycled repeatedly to divert it from landfills indefinitely.

Tandus evaluated Ethos, which was found to exceed the other polymers in terms of material availability, reduction of virgin resources, recyclability and low environmental impact. Additionally, Ethos has extremely low VOCs and contains no phthalates or antimicrobial pesticides.