To “Green” Your Home, Just Put Your Foot Down (NAPSA)—If you’re like many homeowners, you may never have thought about the “green” options available right below yourfeet. Being a socially responsible - homeowner can start from the groundup. Installing flooring alter- natives such as carpet made from recycled plastic bottles, reclaimed hardwood or laminate made with pre-consumer waste can help save the environmentone step at a time. All across the country, buildings and structures are being disman- tled. Generally, the waste is dumpedinto landfills. One flooring companyis trying to reverse that trend by salvaging old materials for use in its reclaimed hardwoodflooring and laminate boards. “Landfills around the globe are being filled up at alarming rates,” said Jenny Cross, Mohawk Industries senior sustainability manager. “Our laminate boards are produced with 74 percent pre-consumerrecycled content, allowing us to keep 680 million pounds of material out of landfills. We also use wood from ancient buildings, some as old as 600 years, for our reclaimed hardwood flooring. This elegant wood really adds unique character to any home.” In addition, the company keeps waste out of landfills by recycling nearly 3 billion plastic bottles each yearfor its EverStrand carpets. The recycled bottles are sorted, ground into fine chips, cleaned, melted and extruded into fiber, then spun into beautiful, soft carpet yarn. Every When you get down to it, any color carpet can be “green.” SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona renewably sourced polymer carpet,” said Cross. “This carpet allows homeowners to go green while still experiencing superior stain resistance and being able to choose from a vast selection of stylish colors and patterns.” The flooring manufacturer is an environmental steward in many ways. For instance, it operates a million-square-foot plant boiler on renewable energy from bio-based fuel. In addition, its use of animal fat as a renewable energy source greatly reduces global warming emissions. The company also either uses or sells all sawdust and excess wood waste to be used as fuel. And severalof its sites are investigating the use of synthetic fuels that would replacecoal. Being a dedicated environmental steward means constantly seeking part of the plastic bottles, including new waysto recycle, reduce, reuse use in various products. Mohawkis also leading innovation in renewably sourced flooring. ful, environmentally smart flooring and a reduced impacton the planet. For more information, visit the cap andthelabel, is recycled for “We're taking carpet fiber literally from the field to the floor with our and renew. The endresult: beauti- www.mohawkflooring.com or call 1 (800) 2-MOHAWK.
