DALTON, Ga. - The extent that the carpet industry has transformed from merely complying with environmental regulations to becoming a green leader made an impression on U.S. Department of Commerce officials, they said after meeting with sector leaders Friday.
Ronald Lorentzen, the department's assistant secretary for import administration, said there is now "a recognition that environmental innovation helps the bottom line" within the carpet industry.
Carpet companies have spent over $400 million on sustainable investments in recent years, he said, making U.S. mills "one of the most progressive industries" in the nation.
Effects of sustainability in the carpet industry:* Carpet industry emissions fell by an average of 53 percent from 2003 to 2007* Water use declined to 3.68 gallons per square yard from 4.44 gallons from 2005 to 2007* Electricity use fell to 1.39 kilowatt hours per square yard to 1.77 kilowatt hours from 2005 to 2007* Biofuel use increased 72.9 percent from 2006 to 2007* Use of recycled material increased by 85.6 percent from 2006 to 2007Source: Carpet and Rug InstituteCarpet industry snapshot:* Largest manufacturing industry in Georgia, with more than 70,000 employees nationwide* 90 percent of domestic carpet is manufactured in Georgia* Annual carpet mill sales exceed $14 billion* Carpet industry produces more than 19 billion square feet of carpet per yearSource: Carpet and Rug Institute
Lorentzen, whose 26 employees address market access issues for the carpet industry and others, encouraged the leaders to continue pushing for greater sustainability.
"In the long run, this will reap substantial cost savings," he said.
There is still room for government to play a role by pushing for higher standards in developing nations that can compete more cheaply due to little or no environmental oversight, Lorentzen said. He said he would "certainly support raising environmental standards overseas to level the playing field."
His remarks were part of the daylong SMARTer Textiles conference sponsored by the Commerce Department and hosted at Shaw Industries' headquarters in Dalton.
Representatives for Mohawk Industries, Beaulieu of America, Shaw Industries and others detailed their journey toward zero waste or "closed loop" manufacturing.
"We were unsustainable in many places, but now we're in transition, designing things to go right back into the products they started from," said Larry Cook, director of manufacturing initiatives at Beaulieu.
Beaulieu will release its first sustainability report in 2011, joining Shaw, which this year released its second sustainability analysis, and Mohawk, which released its first report this year.
"I would say this industry's been pretty proactive," said Peter Bailey, environmental manager and "sustainability ninja" at J&J/Invision. "Although it doesn't always make traditional business sense, either way there are intangible benefits."
In real terms, the industry has reduced emissions of everything from carbon monoxide to particulate matter by 35 percent to 72 percent since 2003, according to a sustainability report from the Carpet and Rug Institute. Water usage declined 30 percent from 2005 to 2007, and the amount of electricity required to produce a square yard of carpet fell to 1.29 kilowatt from 1.77 kilowatt in 2005, according to the report.
"Unfortunately, the carpet industry has been too much of a well kept secret, but now the word is getting out" said Vance Bell, CEO of Shaw.
Bell credited private industry as "the primary driver of real change on environmental and social issues," not "misguided mandates and false incentives" from the government.
"We've really done it on our own," Bell added.
Dan Frierson, CEO of Chattanooga-based Dixie Group, said it was nice to see competitors who are usually "at each other's throats" cooperating on sustainability initiatives.
"I've been in this business a long time, and most of the time, we've been playing defense, not offense" on environmental issues, he said. "Rather than being reactive to regulations, we're being proactive and developing responses to issues before they're regulated."