Kathy McDowell was upset to think she would have to stop playing with her grandchildren on the carpet in her family room. Every time she got close to the floor, the West Lafayette, IN, resident had a reaction that triggered respiratory problems.

When her doctor told her that the carpet had to go, McDowell persisted. She started investigating wool carpet and learned about chemical-free Nature’s Carpet – surprisingly close to home at Cline’s Carpets & Blinds.

“I love the carpet,” says McDowell, who has asthma. “I can get down on the floor with my grandkids. And the wool is easy to keep clean. It seems to breathe. It’s natural. It’s warm when it’s cold, and it’s cool when it’s warm.”

More than 60 percent of the people buying  Nature’s Carpet today have sought it out simply because it’s natural. The company’s “Dark Green” line is made of wool with no dyes, chemicals or synthetic backings. The remaining Nature’s Carpet customers are people who have sensitivities or allergy-like reactions to products that emit chemicals. (See Natural Interiors TV, UnNatural Exposure, Sept. 1, 2010.)

Cary Cline, owner of Cline’s Carpets at 350 Sagamore Pkwy. West, says that McDowell’s experience is more evidence of the growing need for retailers to understand and offer “green” products. CRI Green Label Plus Certification (www.carpet-rug.org) is one label to look for. It ensures that chemical emissions from the carpet have been measured and meet safety limits.

In addition to being made without chemicals, the Nature’s Carpet  “Dark Green” line not only helps the planet because it is completely biodegradable, but it clearly helps improve indoor-air quality, Cline says.

McDowell was so happy with the carpet in her family room, she had Cline’s Carpets install more of it in her guest room.

 “When people have this need, we have something to offer them,” Cline says. “It’s rewarding to know that the steps your company has taken to learn about and offer such products have truly helped someone else solve a problem.”

Cline’s, www.clinescarpets.com , is the exclusive Nature’s Carpet retailer in West Lafayette and is among a growing number of retailers across the country now carrying Nature’s Carpet.

It has been observed that in trying to solve a problem, we often create another.

The U.S. Green Building Council was trying to solve a problem in 2007 when it clamped down on Urea Formaldehyde – an ingredient in the adhesive used in many bamboo and engineered hardwood floors.

Until then, most traditional (non-strand) bamboo floors from the bamboo leaders contained Urea Formaldehyde, but in amounts far below the E1 limit (a German standard adopted in China) of 0.1 parts per million.

More stringent limits have followed. The CARB (California Air Resource Board) limit for formaldehyde emissions is .05 ppm.  And flooring products with GREENGUARD Environmental Institute Certification® have been tested to ensure that formaldehyde emissions do not exceed .05 ppm.

Flooring products that have FloorScore certification have been tested to ensure formaldehyde emissions do not exceed .0135 ppm. That limit is based on California Specification 01350,  will be lowered to .0073 ppm in January 2012. GREENGUARD Children and Schools certification for flooring meets the same limits. (For more information on GREENGUARD and FloorScore see “When Labels Talk” at www.naturalinteriors.com/videos and the July 19, 2010 “Tell Me More” blog.)

With the pressures imposed by CA Specification 01350 and LEED, there is a quest to eliminate these emissions altogether, and it has opened a new debate. To eliminate formaldehyde emissions, some manufacturers are using adhesives that contain isocyanate, which can pose health dangers to factory workers w ho are in contact with the glue before it dries. Others have sought different alternatives.

Here is a list of what some of the most visible bamboo manufacturers are using:

Teragren® bamboo: The company’s strand bamboo line – and its 72-inch length traditional solid strip are the only stocked products that qualify for LEED’s no added urea formaldehyde rules, according to a phone discussion with the company’s technical department. But the company’s other leading lines – Signature, Studio and Craftsman – can be specially ordered without Urea Formaldehyde. As of this posting, I have not received a response from the company’s technical department as to what type of adhesive they are using in this special-order product.  www.teragren.com

Smith & Fong Plyboo®: Offers Plyboo Pure flooring, plywood and veneer, as well as strand, with no added Urea Formaldehyde. The company began converting to a Urea-Formaldehyde-free manufacturing process in 2007. This process, however, involved adhesives that contain isocyanate, which the company wanted to eliminate. So, late last year, Plyboo took another step and began converting to its new SoyBond adhesive. This conversion still  is in process. “SoyBond emits nothing,” says John McIsaac, company spokesman. “It’s made of soy flour, water and a benign binder used in paper towels and currency.” www.plyboo.com

US Floors®:  The adhesive used in US Floors’ bamboo and wood flooring emits no formaldehyde – urea or otherwise. It does contain isocyanate, but the company says it has employees in China who ensure that all safety precautions are enforced for workers. “We only use responsible manufacturers who view the safety of the workers as paramount,” Gary Keeble, marketing manager, confirms. www.usfloorsllc.com

Green Choice Flooring International: Uses the same adhesive as US Floors and responds much the same about safety: “They are required to wear protective gear, including gloves when handling any board, rubber gloves and aprons when working with wet processes and protective and/or breathing masks,” says an email returned by the sales department. www.greenchoiceflooring.com

EcoTimber®: Introduced no added Formaldehyde flooring as a standard product in 2008. This Colorado-based company says that responsible factories using adhesives containing isocyanate take all needed precautions to protect workers. The company also uses PVA adhesives that are formaldehyde-free and pose no danger to workers, according to its website. www.ecotimber.com

–Heather Curless

Our LEED AP

National effort to recycle carpet diverts more than 300 million pounds a year from landfills, but some complain of roadblocks

John Hughes doesn’t need to watch Green Master’s Natural Interiors® TV presentation this week. He could have written the script. He has been thinking about the health of the planet for a long time. And he is getting a little frustrated.

Hughes, president and owner of O’Briens Carpet One Floor & Home in Colorado Springs, Co., has installed solar panels to reduce the energy needed to run his business. He recycles the wood he tears out when replacing a customer’s floor in addition to all of the rebond carpet pad he replaces. He has tried, repeatedly, to have a successful program for recycling his carpet tear-outs, too.

He started baling all of his used carpet about seven years ago when one of the first carpet-recycling facilities opened. He was not defeated when that facility closed. Major companies, including Shaw and Mohawk, began announcing recycling programs. A needed collector – the middleman who sorts materials before sending them to recyclers – had opened in Denver. All Hughes had to do, or so he thought, was ship his bales there.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this is great,’ ” he recalls. “But lo and behold, they went out of business.”

Though Hughes’ carpet recycling has been curbed, carpet recycling efforts by CARE (Carpet America Recovery Effort) members across the United States diverted more than 311 million pounds — 5.3 percent of the estimated total of discarded, post-consumer carpet – from landfills in 2009. That’s an increase of 19 million pounds over 2008. Still, members of CARE say efforts need to increase, particularly in public education and in attracting entrepreneurs with sound business plans to the recycling industry.

The average person does not know how to recycle carpet. We see discarded carpet on curbs in our neighborhoods every trash collection day. And building a successful recycling business, which has been a problem in Colorado and other areas, requires a unique person who has built relationships with customers of post-consumer carpet, says Georgina Sikorski, executive director of CARE – a joint industry-government effort to divert carpet from landfills that began in 2002.

“Some are going to be more successful than others,” she says. “It’s not an easy business to get into. There’s a lot of volatility.”

There currently are 74 carpet recycling collectors that can be located by clicking the U.S. map at www.carpetrecovery.org.

Hughes looked beyond his state when the Denver collector closed. Next, he began sending his used carpet to St. Paul, MN. But after two or three trucks, that collector’s carpet recycling source shut down.

“I continued baling it while I looked for another sorter,” Hughes says. “But then I got a call from the city. It seems I now had an eyesore (of carpet bales) on my property.”

One of the partners in the Denver collection company that closed has recently opened a new collection company, Colorado Recycling Services in Englewood, Co.  Don Johnson, president, says his carpet recycling work is mostly aimed at commercial carpeting because of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rules that require used carpeting to go to a recycling company. Johnson’s company charges 14 cents a pound to receive carpet. That’s in addition to the freight costs for getting the carpet there, and it can add up to something that is too costly for the average residential flooring dealer transporting truckloads, he says.

While CARE’s Sikorski points out that residential carpet is usually more plush and desirable for recycling, Johnson says his state government ought to be doing more, perhaps by increasing landfill tip fees, to offset costs of recycling for individual residents and residential retailers. Also lacking, Johnson says, is   information sharing and a unified approach that could strengthen the recycling industry nationally.

“There’s a lot of secrecy among collectors,” he says. “We’re all chomping for the same steak.”

When Hughes was sending truckloads of carpet to a collector, he tried to keep the cost in line with what he would spend having it hauled to the landfill, but the environmental benefits were his main motivation. Realistically, he says, there is not a lot of help or incentive for a flooring dealer, particularly a small one.

“It’s a costly situation for a dealer,” he says.

Hughes is thinking about calling Johnson. But what he would really like is for one of the carpet manufacturers who recycle to give him an infrared spectrometer, a tool that detects what type of fiber the carpet is made of, so he can sort it and send it directly to the place that recycles that fiber.

If we get a response to that request, we’ll update this story.

– Nancy Kibbee

Editor

nkibbee@naturalinteriors.com

Related Stories Coming Soon:  How to Get Your Carpet Recycled and Products Made from Recycled Carpet

Click here to view the embedded video.

CRI Green Label Plus can help you choose a “green” carpet — if you understand what this label means

“Ben (Lanich, a Carpetland store manager,)

did a fantastic job staying on top of everything that needed to be done, and following through,” Wallar says. “His attitude was to do whatever it takes.”

For more information contact:

Matt Wallar,  mwallar@cpsohio.com

Ben Lanich,  blanich@carpetland-cincy.com or Carpetland, 10101 Springfield Pike, Cincinnati, OH 513-772-3456.

Uncommonly Green Commons

Across South Campus Avenue from Miami University in Oxford, OH, Campus Commons is a community of 18 duplexes and three single family homes. Still under construction, the project was designed by Architects Plus

in Cincinnati. It meets LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Homes standards.

Throughout the project, Schumacher & Co. Custom Hardwood Floors of Milford, OH, has installed Corboo™, from US Floors. It is a one-of-a-kind strand bamboo product. It combines cork with strand bamboo, which makes the flooring easier underfoot.

The buildings meet Energy Star performance requirements, reducing energy usage by at least 15 percent below building code requirements. And

a number of features ensure good indoor air quality. These include low-VOC paints, radon evacuation systems and MERV 13 air filters that remove 90 percent of allergens.

For more information contact:

Roy Young or info@schumacherco.com, Schumacher & Co. Custom Hardwood Floors, 920 Lila Ave., Milford, OH 513-831-5000.  Also visit www.usfloorsllc.com.

FloorScore® vs. GREENGUARD, FSC® vs. SFI® – more details about this week’s Natural Interiors® TV

Forest Steward, you rock!

But it might be time to change your thinking. The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification you represent in the July 19, 2010 episode of Natural Interiors® TV is the true, independent third-party certification we have all come to rely on. Yes, the U.S. Green Building Council is now considering whether to also rely on SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) in determining what products get credits for being sustainably harvested.

Are you going to make yourself ill over a little competition?

Did you pay attention to GREENGUARD during the video? He represents a true, third-party certifier, and he competes daily with FloorScore.® But it doesn’t look like GREENGUARD is losing any sleep.

GREENGUARD and FloorScore® certifications set limits on chemical emissions from hard-surface flooring to promote healthful indoor-air quality. Many people consider FloorScore® to be a second-party certification because it was started by the Resilient Floor Covering Institute — a flooring industry trade association. But SCS (Scientific Certification Systems) — a well-known third-party certifier – reviews the testing and issues certification under the program.

The GREENGUARD  certification program, overseen by the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute, enforces emission limits on 364 VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). It also enforces emission limits on the total sum of VOCs that can off-gas from a product. GREENGUARD Certification requires this total VOC limit because health science cannot keep up with the number of new chemical compounds introduced into the marketplace every day.

For the FloorScore® certification program, the Resilient Floor Covering Institute chose California’s section 01350 specifications, which set limits for 38 VOCs. They did this with the belief that it was the best health-based standard available. The certification was then designed and is conducted by SCS, which commends GREENGUARD  for including more VOCs but is confident that FloorScore® is as third-party as it gets.

The GREENGUARD  Environmental Institute counters that the compounds they regulate are more appropriate for resilient flooring, and that their GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification is more stringent than section 01350.

Independent, third-party oversight like the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute’s always gets my vote. But with SCS – not the Resilient Floor Covering Institute – overseeing the FloorScore® program, FloorScore® gains credibility. In addition, more certifications mean that more manufacturers put their products through a “green” testing process, which is better for human health and the planet’s health.

Forest Steward, you just need to be more like GREENGUARD. Focus on what sets you apart from SFI, and when the U.S. Green Building Council makes its decision, we can go over those attributes in another video. The hard-core “green” consumer will always want you.

So cheer up!

– Nancy Kibbee

Editor & Natural Interiors® TV Producer