An intricate Japanese textile artistry, Kasuri fabrics are made with fiber specifically dyed to create the design displayed on the finished piece. Available in six-foot structured back broadloom with or without cushion, Kasuri is 100 percent recyclable and features C&A’s new 96 percent recycled-content backing. The new backing is a thermoplastic terpolymer, which, until now, had been destined for the landfill. With lower embodied energy and environmental impact than current commercial backings, Kasuri's backing also has exceptional life-cycle performance, C&A reports. Its installation eliminates the use of wet adhesives. When recycled through C&A's existing closed-loop process, a high-performance backing with an extremely small environmental footprint is created.

Sustainability is one of those popular buzzwords we hear bantered about a lot, but oftentimes it is not fully grasped in the context of an overall scheme of things. Too many times, the term sustainability is linked exclusively with environmental policy, and while that certainly plays a major role in defining sustainability, it puts far too much limitation on what is needed to achieve a truly sustainable world.

Leaders of the carpet industry hold the notion that sustainability is here to stay, or else we may not be. But the industry has embraced far more than reduction of our environmental footprint, looking at corporate responsibility in a way that includes our environment in the context of the communities it serves and the many lives it touches on an everyday basis.

Albert Einstein once said, “We cannot solve the problems we have created with the same thinking that created them.’’

To that end, the carpet industry is to be commended. Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) members continue to find new and innovative ways to be environmentally responsible while at the same time offering long performing, quality and comfortable products for the consumer.

By considering a product’s construction, use, and disposal or re-use, an understanding for making more environmentally advantageous choices is born. “Greener’’ decisions become possible. Life cycle assessment creates such possibilities.

Members of the carpet industry have embraced such thinking. What better way to grasp a product’s impact on our environment than to study its start-to-finish history? Focusing on the chain of events that occur from cradle to grave provides insight into the long-range impacts a product or service has on our planet.

Carpet companies are becoming focused on sustainable growth — creating high performance products while decreasing their environmental footprint for the value of future generations. Sustainability means more than just recycling: it’s an entire shift in the way a company thinks about its product and the manufacturing processes in relation to the environment.

The carpet industry has embraced this philosophy and understands that no industry can sustain itself at the expense of our environment, our societies, or our people. We are all in this world together, and our products should reflect our commitment to the balance between environmental, social, and economic contributions of the industry.

The Visio Collection from Lees Carpets is the result of a close collaboration with award-winning Envision Design Founder Ken Wilson and Designer Colleen Waguespack. Visio incorporates best practices in every stage of its life cycle while maintaining a cutting edge design.

CRI continues to herald the industry’s record in sustainability through its fourth annual Sustainability Report, which is being released in conjunction with the Greenbuild conference and expo in Portland, Ore., this month. Henry Ford once said that a business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business. We agree. This is not about an industry making a product, but rather an industry making a difference.

Sustainability has been incorporated across the industry not only as a business strategy, but also as corporate responsibility. Our environmental record, while impressive, is still a work in progress as we look for new and exciting ways to shrink our footprint.

Product stewardship simply means that all parties involved in designing, manufacturing, selling and using a product take responsibility for environmental impacts at every stage of that product’s life. We want to treat discarded carpet as a resource rather than a waste product, and the thinking towards that end has generated some amazing results thus far. You would be surprised at some of the things currently being made from discarded carpet. From treated wood for your deck to auto parts in your car, recycled carpet is popping up almost everywhere.

As mentioned earlier, the carpet industry story is well-documented in the industry’s Sustainability Report. Energy consumption has remained flat since 1990, yet there has been a 47 percent increase in production. That would be the equivalent to permanently parking 226,000 cars annually. The reduction of energy and water used to produce a square yard of carpet has fallen by 70 percent and 46 percent, respectively, since 1990. Said another way, the integrated industry environmental footprint has been reduced by approximately 80 percent in the last 12 years.

Mill waste has also been reduced by 85 percent since 1990. And whether one believes in global warming and the Kyoto Protocol or not, the carpet industry is in compliance. The industry’s green house gases are the same as they were in 1990, yet production has increased by 47 percent.

This is a nice progress report, but it certainly isn’t our final report. We are more than aware of the fact that as we continue to squeeze more and more reductions in areas such as energy and water usage, we must also develop a new paradigm to progress even more areas. Alternate sources of energy are being sought out as well as new methods and technologies that will reduce water consumption. And this new paradigm of thinking is not limited. New raw materials and construction designs will have a major impact on the environmental footprint. Making carpet that will last longer, and that can be easier to recover after useful life, are both important mechanisms in the effort to preserve the environment.

Buildings have a major impact on many of the environmental problems facing our society. In a report issued by World Watch Institute, “As much as a tenth of the global economy is dedicated to buildings: to construction, operating, and equipping our built environment.’’ Obviously, this puts quite a strain on the environment as we know it.

Inspired to connect architectural and automotive elements, world-class designers from BMW DesignworksUSA and Lees Carpets came together to create the MotorSport Collection. All of Lees Carpets products use Antron nylon, which has been certified by Scientific Certification Systems as an Environmentally Preferred Product.

The term sustainable design is oftentimes confusing, but regardless of the agenda, the desired outcome should always be the same: a healthy, productive, and cost-effective built environment knowingly achieved with minimized impacts on important environmental resources.

Facility managers today are faced with numerous choices when it comes to doing the right thing. It is important to recognize that the green building movement is still in its infancy. And while many are rushing to promote “green’’ products, history shows us that while we must move forward with innovation and excitement, we must also take care to be responsible market stewards.

The carpet industry touts its record often and no doubt facility managers have heard the phrase “green carpet is more than just a color.” Of course, anyone touting green products should be able to provide defendable proof that these products perform as stated and the carpet industry is no exception.

That’s where CRI comes into play as the source for balanced facts and insight into how carpet can create a better environment. Factual, science-based research is at the heart of what CRI provides professionals and the public to help them understand and make important decisions about carpet and rugs. And it’s right at your fingertips via the Web site at carpet-rug.org.

Two of our cornerstone programs, the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) and the Green Label Testing Programs, are discussed in the following pages in this special section. These are practical, working programs that will positively impact our environment.

From a social aspect of sustainability, ours is an industry which believes it is only as good as the good work it does for the community, and we have a long and proud history of giving back to the communities in which we work and live. We start with doing the right thing. A thriving community is the heartbeat of society. That’s why we invest in cultural, economic, educational, environmental and social organizations and projects in the communities in which we operate. Our economic success is linked with the health and vitality of the communities where they operate.

The industry understands the responsibility of employees’ health and safety, and has programs in place to see to it that each is a top priority.

In terms of the industry’s economic sustainability, there are certain responsibilities to creating a superior economic value for stakeholders while living the values the industry has embraced. Someone once said that in the long term, the economy and the environment are the same thing. If it’s not environmental it is not economical. That is the rule of nature. Again, we agree wholeheartedly.

The industry must be strong economically for all involved, and ultimately it is the community as a whole that benefits from a protected environment, improved product, and a safe and healthy place for people to work.

With all due respect to product responsibility, members have continued to remain committed to customer satisfaction in their products while maintaining economic viability. The benefits of carpet continue to be many — from comfort and walking ease to noise reduction and thermal insulation. Benefits also include safety features, indoor air quality factors, and of course, the fashionable aspect.

Carpet continues to be the floor covering choice preferred by many because of all these benefits. While it remains the same high quality product our parents grew up with, it’s definitely not taking near the toll on Mother Earth thanks to an industry that cares.

The challenges in reaching our goals are large, but the opportunities are equally large and justify our effort.

The carpet industry will continue to find solutions that work: new products, new technologies, changed minds, and changed approaches that provide improved service, better information, and wider choices with drastically reduced impact on the environment.