Mohawk Becomes A ‘2020 Innovation by Design Awards’ Finalist


10/19/2020

Mohawk creates sustainable carpet fibres by recycling plastic bottles.


Dailycsr.com – 19 October 2020 – Mohawk Industries, manufacturer of flooring materials, takes a finalist’s place in the sustainable category of “2020 Innovation by Design Awards” by Fast Company magazine. The company received this honour due to its “patented process” of creating Continuum, whereby it “recycles plastic bottles” and turns them into “sustainable carpet fibers”. Among other “high profile” finalists are “Google, Nike, Perkins+Will, Procter & Gamble” as well as the Snøhetta, an architecture firm of Norway which bagged the “ultimate first-prize”.
 
The winner is behind the vision of the office building “Powerhouse Brattørkaia” which generates double the energy than its requirements. Earlier, Continuum and Mohawk received the “Best of Surfaces Award in sustainability” as well as the “Floor Covering Weekly GreenStep Award” more recently. In the words of the Senior Vice-President of Marketing at Mohawk, Karen Mendelsohn:
“The core of our sustainability marketing strategy has been to make a more concerted effort to engage consumers and designers in the amazing story of innovation that is Continuum. We are absolutely thrilled to see our strides being recognized in such a prestigious competition alongside true power players in their respective industries. It is a wonderful opportunity for Mohawk to be honored, and Fast Company has created a platform for these honorees to reach larger audiences because of the emphasis they put on sustainability in practice.”
 
Describing the “Continuum process”, in its press release, the Mohawk Industry informs that it is a “a sustainable design innovation in the flooring industry that creates silky soft, durable carpet out of plastic bottle waste at Mohawk’s Summerville, Georgia plant”.
 
The said initiative started in 2008 and has become the “largest recycler of plastic bottles in North America”. The press release further adds:
“To date, Mohawk has recycled more than 40 billion plastic bottles, equivalent to two billion pounds of plastic, and in 2019 alone, recycled seven billion plastic bottles. In using this process, the company has offset nearly 20 percent of recycled PET bottles in the U.S by creating 936 million square feet of the sustainable carpet”.
 
 
References:
3blmedia.com