International Flooring Media News, North America

California is the first state in the USA that requires all carpet manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and wholesalers to charge a stewardship assessment as part of its statewide carpet stewardship program.

On September 30, 2010 California passed AB 2398 also known as the “California Carpet Stewardship Bill”. California is the first state in the United States to establish a private-sector designed and managed statewide carpet stewardship program. Essentially the bill requires manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, and wholesalers of carpets sold in California to charge a carpet stewardship assessment on all carpets sold in the state of California. The intent of AB 2398 is to ensure improvements in landfill diversion and recycling of post consumer carpets. The program endeavors to ensure that discarded carpets become a resource for new products. According to the CalRecycle.Gov, discarded carpet is one of the 10 most prevalent waste materials in California landfills, equaling 3.2 percent of waste by volume disposed of in California in 2008. Most carpet is made from nylon and other polymers derived from virgin oil. Numerous products can be manufactured from recycled carpets, including carpet backing and backing components, carpet fiber, carpet underlayment, plastics and engineered materials, and erosion control products. By enacting AB 2398, carpet product stewardship should increase the amount of postconsumer carpet that is diverted from landfills and recycled into secondary products or otherwise managed to promote the waste management practices of source reduction, recycling and composting, and environmentally safe transformation including safe land disposal.

Overall the floor covering industry is one of the early leaders in recycling of pre consumer and post consumer waste. Carpet manufacturers such as Shaw, Interface Flor and Bentley Prince Street were early pioneers in sustainability. How does this translate to the consumer sector? Have retailers and wholesalers been impacted negatively by the added cost of AB 2398 or by the added initial costs burdened by carpet manufactures related to sustainability goals such as zero waste to landfill? The answer is a resounding “no”, carpet retailers have generally not been impacted by sustainable initiatives. To delve into this a bit further, Empire Today, LLC has provided some insights from their perspective.

Empire Today, LLC also commonly known as Empire Carpet, has been a leading provider of installed home improvement and home furnishings for over 50 years. Empire provides services to residential and business customers with a wide selection of products suitable for homes, small businesses, organizations and commercial applications. When Steven Frank, Empire Representative and San Diego Satellite Manager was asked if Empire’s sales team were finding that customers are asking more for sustainable / green flooring, his response was “Customers are more aware of the impact on the environment and how they can be more environmentally conscience when selecting products for their homes. Empire Today works closely with our suppliers to select carpet, flooring and window treatment products that are environmentally friendly and / or energy efficient.” Steven went on to state that as it relates to sustainable carpeting such as recycled content “We continue to listen to our customers, find the products to meet their needs and feel the demand for these products will continue to grow as awareness to impact stays in the forefront…”

This gives hope to sustainability advocates everywhere as Empire Today represents a large slice of the retail market. This also begs the question, if California AB 2398 did not and does not negatively impact business, why aren’t states everywhere taking note? The issues of consumption and waste are not limited to California and in fact people all over the world use carpeting and floor covering products. Thus, all flooring industry representatives should take note and begin to drive change within their organizations. Change for the overall good, change for sustainable thinking and sustainable products.

For more information on Shaw’s sustainable products go to:
http://www.shawfloors.com/Environmental/EnvironmentallyFriendlyDetail

Interface Flor go to:
http://www.interfaceflor.ca/default.aspx?Section=3&Sub=4

Bentley Prince Street go to:
http://www.bentleyprincestreet.com/Sustainability/MissionZero.aspx.

To view Empire’s listing of eco friendly products go to:
http://www.empirecarpet-eco-recycling.com/empire-carpet-offers-environmentally-responsible-products/.