Shaw introduces Cradle to Cradle flooring line

Dalton, Georgia-based Shaw Industries Group Inc. is now selling what it calls its first Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold (V3.1) flooring products. That certification is overseen by the Oakland, California-based Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.

Shaw says it has “long been committed to Cradle to Cradle design and its focus on material health, product circularity, clean air and climate protection, water and soil stewardship and social fairness.”

The Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold Reverse carpet tile collection is being offered by Patcraft, a Shaw Industries brand and provider of commercial flooring. The collection uses a selection of materials to meet the Cradle to Cradle standards for sustainable products.

Those materials include EcoSolution Q100TM yarn, which Shaw describes as offering 100 percent post-industrial recycled content harvested from waste minimization and collection efforts.

The products also are manufactured with EcoWorx backing, which can be recycled at the end of its useful life and made into more EcoWorx flooring through Patcraft’s re[TURN] Reclamation Program. 

Shaw’s EcoWorx-backed carpet tile, introduced in 1999, was the first flooring to ever be Cradle to Cradle certified, says the company, and was one of the first products from any industry to obtain that designation. Now, almost 90 percent of the products the company manufactures are Cradle to Cradle Certified Bronze, Silver or Gold, according to Shaw.

“At Shaw, we take a people-centric approach to sustainability—what we call sustain[HUMAN]ability®,” says Kellie Ballew, vice president of global sustainability at Shaw. “We are proud of this latest step in our continued journey to create a better future and a better world—a world in which we collectively value and invest in the wellbeing and the success of all people and our planet.”