Mohawk Creates Alliance with Polar Materials to Boost Carpet Recycling

The flooring manufacturer Mohawk Industries has announced an alliance with Polar Materials Inc., a Covington, Ga.-based company that specializes in the use of recycled materials to replace mined minerals.

The partnership between the two companies leverages Polar Materials’ carpet-to-carpet (C2C) manufacturing process to market carpet-backing filler created from recycled carpet waste.

“Polar Materials’ C2C technology presents tremendous promise for the carpet industry,” says Vann Brown, vice president of innovation and technology, Mohawk Industries. “Not only is it an environmentally responsible solution for increasing post-consumer recycled content in products, but it also minimizes the already heavy burden on our nation’s landfills by reducing carpet waste and improving the economics of carpet recycling. Mohawk has a long history of forward-thinking innovation and our partnership with Polar Materials is no exception. This is a win-win for our entire industry.”

Waste sand, or calcium carbonate plus latex, from reclaimed carpet is put through the C2C process, which removes residual carpet fibers and blends the sand with limestone commonly used as filler for latex carpet backings. The annual consumption of limestone in carpet exceeds 800,000 tons per year.

The C2C carpet filler satisfies Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard NSF-140 2007, the industry’s national sustainability benchmark for ensuring environmentally and socially responsible carpeting products, for post-consumer recycled content goals. Mohawk is currently using the material in its Mohawk Home division with plans to expand into the flooring segment.

“The carpet recycling network has worked hard to gain a sustainable acceptance for products reclaimed from carpet recycling operations,” says Joseph Keating, Polar Materials Inc. “The ability to recover and reuse old backing components is a major step forward, along with new waste-to-energy facilities, growth in carpet pad manufacture and new innovative methods for better processing and more uses for the recovered polymers.”

Polar Materials’ C2C carpet backing filler is produced at its Dalton, Ga. manufacturing facility.