The Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), a joint initiative of the carpet industry, the Environmental Protection Agency, state governments, and non-governmental organizations, is announcing a partnership with sustainable design company Tricycle, Inc to reduce the amount of carpet waste landfilled annually.
For TFM‘s coverage of this subject, read “Sustaining Carpet is a Journey” by Lisa Malloy and Caren Klosterman.
In 2002, CARE established an ambitious schedule to divert 40% of carpet landfill waste by the year 2012 by focusing upon post-consumer carpet waste, helping to identify, promote, and develop carpet reclamation and recycling programs. Only three years later, CARE reported more than 120 million pounds of landfill diversion of old carpet and was selected as one of the “25 Environmental Champions for 2005” in a recent industry survey.
The CARE Board of Directors recognized Tricycle’s success at reducing unnecessary design waste in the manufacturing process as achieving the same ultimate goal–reducing the amount of carpet landfilled. Tricycle’s services enable manufacturers to design and prototype carpet as well as send samples to architects and interiors designers before physically manufacturing the products. In 12 months, in external product samples sent to architects and designers alone, Tricycle simulation prevented more than 50,000 pounds of carpet from making its way to landfill.
CARE’s emphasis upon post-consumer waste aligns with Tricycle’s elimination of unnecessary design waste, or pre-production waste, to impact the full lifecycle of creative products in the carpet and textile industries.
“CARE is leading sustainability initiatives that address the life of carpet after it is produced by a manufacturer and purchased by a consumer; Tricycle focuses upon serving manufacturers’ design, prototyping, sampling, sales and marketing,” says Tricycle president and COO Jonathan Bragdon. “In essence, we have been working alongside CARE for three years, watching the organization as it steps into a position of environmental leadership in the interiors industry. The partnership is a welcome outgrowth of two organizations that have been running parallel courses.”
The first component of the partnership is a Tricycle- led relaunch of CARE’s Web site. Tricycle will redesign and develop the site, using its extensive experience of building Web tools and sites for clients including Bentley Prince Street, Collins Aikman, Crossley, Interface, Lees, Milliken, Monterey, Set Wallcovering, and Wieland Furniture.
The second component is a donation program, by which Tricycle will contribute a percentage of its profits to CARE. Any use of SIM from Tricycle simulation by a carpet manufacturer who is a CARE member will automatically generate a donation to CARE initiatives. SIM from Tricycle is the only carpet simulation to receive two NeoCon Gold awards, is in use at eight of the top 10 commercial carpet manufacturers, and is spreading into the hospitality and residential markets, as well as wall covering, textiles, and furniture. The color accurate, realistically visually textured prints require zero oil, 95% less water and energy to produce, cost up to 70% less per sample, and are designed to be completely recyclable into paper products.
“For the past year, I have been totally intrigued by Tricycle’s unique value proposition,” says CARE Executive Director Robert Peoples. “This partnership of two organizations on the cutting edge is a great opportunity to look at the bigger picture of sustainable design, a genuine win-win for everyone. It simply makes sense to collaborate, and we could not be more thrilled at the opportunity to work with such a talented team.”
