Malia Curby

Christina Cogdell

DES 40A

13 March 2014

Interface Carpet Tiles - Raw Materials

Company Background

Interface is a very unique and special company that has a higher goal than just making regular carpet and money. One of the main reasons our group decided to pick Interface is because of what the company stands for and how they are changing the production industry in positives ways. Interface buys, uses, and sells recyclable and sustainable materials that makes the company sustainable and have a lower environmental footprint. Using recyclable and sustainable materials are hugely important to help the planet. While I am doing a research paper on the materials of Interface carpet tiles, I do think it is important to share the background that influences why Interface uses the materials they do.

Ray Anderson, the founder of interface, had a vision to produce zero waste and reclaim its own products and use them as raw materials for new textile. The products they buy and make are recyclable and nontoxic. Because they buy and sell sustainable materials there is a circular path instead of a linear one. They make their customers “think differently about carpeting and their own businesses” (Fishman, Charles). They started a revolution of making goods, while still stating consumerism is good (1).

FLOR is a division of Interface, which is made up of a family of companies committed to caring for the environment in everything they do. They are a part of Mission Zero, “which aims for zero emissions, zero waste, and zero oil by 2020” (Goldstein). They believe in a closed- loop product life cycle and they carefully think about their environmental-footprint constantly. The company is always thinking of new ways to keep old products from ending up in the landfill (2).

Interface is a transparent company that shares environmental data sheets to give “a quick and fact-based overview” (Transparency, Interface Sustainability) through the life cycle. The company also has a “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which is a tool used to evaluate the environmental aspects associated with a product or process” (Design Process, Interface). While the data sheets and LCA do share an abundant amount of information, it is still too vague for a research paper like this. It is however, a great start and something I think every company should do with their products. I think Interface is so willing to share information about their product because they are proud that it is recyclable and sustainable, which is better for the planet (3).

In Interface carpet tiles, there are a variety of materials that include nylon, polyester, wool, and limestone. But what makes up these materials and how do you get it? Interface obtains most of its materials from recycled waste, but those companies (who recycled the materials) had to obtain in somehow, too. The materials had to be made at some point in time, so I will explain the process of making nylon, polyester, wool, and limestone. I did, however, have a hard time finding out where nylon and polyester comes from the Earth because they are human made polymers. I could not find where or how scientists get the basic elements to synthesis nylon and polyester specifically.

Nylon

First, some basic chemistry to help us understand what everything is made up of. There are many terms that are similar, but I tried to explain it as best I could for a non-scientific person, such as myself, to follow along. “Atoms are the basic building block of matter” ("All about Atoms, Jefferson Lab). From there, there are elements which are made up of one type of atom, and then elements make up molecules. Monomers are molecules that can be bonded to other identical molecules to form a polymer. Because polymers are many monomers, and monomers are molecules, polymers are also known as large molecules, or macromolecules (5).

Synthetic polymers are human made polymers. They are four main categories of synthetic polymers, but I will be focusing on one, which are thermoplastics. Nylon, the first material I will be talking about, is a thermoplastic. “A thermoplastic is a polymer that becomes moldable above a specific temperature, and returns to a solid state upon cooling” (Thermoplastic, Wikipedia). Nylon is also a polyamide. A polyamide is a macromolecule (or polymer) with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Naturally occurring polyamides are wool (which I will be talking about later). Artificially made polyamides can be made through step- growth polymerization or solid-phase synthesis. (“Polymerization is the process of combining many monomers into a covalently bonded chain or network”) (Polymers, Wikipedia) (6).

Manufacturers combine two sets of molecules to create nylon. One set has an acid group (such as dicarboxylic acid) on each end, and the other set has an amine group, made up of basic organic compounds. (I could not find where manufactures obtain these molecules, but a friend told me that you can buy them from companies. Where those companies get it from, I am not sure.) Chemical elements included are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. The nylon is named on the basis of the number of carbon atoms separating the two acid groups and the two amines. Nylon 6-6 is widely used for fibers, which is made from adipic acid. The two compounds form nylon salt which is an exact 1:1 ratio of acid to base. This salt is then dried and heated under vacuum to eliminate water and form the polymer (6).

“When stretched, the fibers even out, thin, and smooth until they reach a point at which they have no more give, yet are still very strong.” (McMahon, Mary). After nylon is extruded in a thread form, it is stretched after it cools to make long, even fibers. Before drawing, the material has a tangled structure, which then straightens out into parallel lines. The strength of nylon comes from amide groups in its molecular chain. It also has a very regular shape, which makes it well suited to creating fabrics designed to stand up to intense forces. “Nylon is very sensitive to heat and should be washed and dried on cool settings” McMahon, Mary). It also dries very quickly. It is a flexible textile and appears in a wide range of applications, from clothing to climbing equipment, and carpet (7).

The nylon molecule that Interface spins its carpet from is completely recyclable, and it is stable for eternity. Because it is 100 percent recycled nylon, it meets or exceeds the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus standards for low volatile Organic Compounds. Interface no longer uses virgin nylon yarn to stitch its fabrics. Interface's factories and offices also uses power from renewable sources only. Companies can have a low environmental footprint and preserve the Earth, while still having a profitable business (8).

One source where Interface obtains nylon is through fishing nets. Filipino fishermen and their families collect fishing nets from the sand and sea, where the nets can harm the environment and marine life. Most nylon from these fishing nets is the same material used to make carpet yarn. This helps Interface use less virgin raw materials. Collection systems will be set up in at least 15 villages, and will involve more than 280 impoverished households. This process will also generate funds for the communities where families make little money. Not only does Interface obtain already made material, but the company helps clean up the environment and provides families with more income (9).

Polyester

Polyester is an artificial man-made fiber or a synthetic fiber. “Polyester is a chemical term which can be broken into poly, meaning many, and ester, a basic organic chemical compound” (Polyester, How Products are Made). It is derived from coal, air, water, and petroleum. Polyester is mainly ethylene (a polymer), which is derived from petroleum from which the constituent acids and alcohols are derived. The chemical process that produces the finished polyester is polymerization. (I also talked about polymerization in nylon). Other raw materials used to make polyester are Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). PET is also a thermoplastic polymer just like nylon. PET contains petrochemicals from oil and antimony that is a carcinogen. It also may contain styrene, manganese, cobalt, resin, fiberglass, and hydrocarbon from crude oil or conifer trees (10).

There are three steps in synthesizing polyester. Condensation polymerization is when acid and alcohol react in a vacuum at high temperatures. “Once the polymerization has occurred the material is extruded onto a casting trough in the form of a ribbon” (Manufacturing Polyester, What Is Polyester). Once it cools, the ribbon hardens and it is cut into chips. The chips are then completely dried. Hopper reservoirs are used to melt the chips and then it is extruded through spinnerets and cools upon hitting the air. After, it is wounded loosely around cylinders. The fibers formed are hot stretched about five times their original length. This helps to reduce the fiber width. Now the polyester fiber is ready and spun into yarns. The yarns can be blended with other fibers to make blended fabrics (11).

“Polyester in soda bottles and other products is a good fiber to produce carpet tiles. And though it is a petroleum- based polymer in its virgin form, it also comes from recycled plastics and polyester materials” (Design, FLOR). The company tries to stay away from “virgin polyester and instead tap[s] into the vast waste stream of postconsumer recycled content” (Design, FLOR) for their raw materials. Interface thinks about the environment before anything else. How can people not? Humans cannot survive without the planet (12).

Wool

Wool comes from sheep. They grow a wool coat and it is sheared off once a year. In most places the shearing occurs early spring before they have their lambs. The wool coat that is sheared is called fleece or “grease wool because of all the oil and lanolin (a fatty substance) in the wool. The fleece has to be cleaned before it can be processed into wool yarn. There are many other substances in the fleece such as vegetable matter and manure. Sometimes as much as 50 percent of the weight of the fleece is not even wool (13).

Before washing the fleece, the wool from the back end of the sheep, such as their legs and sometimes their belly, are removed. This is because it can be too full of manure to use. This process is referred to as skirting because all the edges of the wool coat are removed. The fleece is also sorted into different types such as fine to coarse, and short to long. The grease from the wool has to be removed and this can be done by using soap or detergent and a lot of water. Cleaning the grease out can also be done by submerging the wool in an acid bath that dissolves all the vegetable matter and well as the grease. This process is called scouring (13).

After the wool is washed and then dried, it is then “teased” or “picked”. The locks of wool are opened through a pick and get turned into a consistent web and the fluffy wool is blown into a room. “At the same time a special spinning oil is added which helps the wool fibers slide against each other, but also helps them stick together as a fine web thought the processing” (Steps in Processing Wool, Blackberry-Ridge). Then, the wool fibers are combed many times by transferring it back and forth from one machine driven drum to the other as it passes down the series of drums. The drums are covered with “card cloth”. This process is called carding (13).

The next process is roving, which is the final step in the carding process. This divides the wool web into small strips called pencil rovings. “These are collected on large spools, or bobbins, on the end of the card. These spools of pencil roving will be placed on the spinning frame to make yarn” (Steps in Processing Wool, Blackberry-Ridge). When the roving comes off the card, it has no twist. “It is held together by the oil and natural hooks that exist on the surface of the wool fibers. The spinning frame will put the actual twist on the roving and turn it into yarn. This is collected on wooden bobbins” (Steps in Processing Wool, Blackberry-Ridge). When the wooden bobbins, are full of yarn, they are placed on a cone winder. The yarn is then moved to paper cones for use in weaving and knitting machines (13).

There are different ways to finish the yard. Sometimes it is necessary to remove the lubricant by washing, which “sets the twist” (Steps in Processing Wool, Blackberry-Ridge) which allows the fibers to open up, fluff out and make a loftier yarn. Other times, the wool is woven or knitted directly from the cone and is washed and blocked in its final form such cloth (13).

FLOR uses 100 percent natural, renewable and non-dyed wool from England and New Zealand. Wool is sustainable, but the production of wool takes energy and emits pollution. And do not forget the transportation needed. No matter how natural and renewable something is, energy is always needed. Because energy and emissions take place in everything produced, it is important that we make sure our environmental footprint is small. Interface does a great example of this (14).

Limestone

“To be classified as limestone, the rock must contain at least 50 percent calcium carbonate” (Lime Manufacturing, EPA). Limestone is sedimentary rock that is made up of mostly calcite, which is calcium carbonate, but also has other minerals like dolomite, flint, alumina, bitumen, and pyrites. “When the rock contains 30 to 45 percent magnesium carbonate, it is referred to as dolomite, or dolomitic limestone” (Lime Manufacturing, EPA). The main course of calcite in the limestone comes from skeletal fragments of marine organisms like coral or foraminifera. “The pressure from the water, shells and sand compressed them together into the rock” (What Is Limestone Made Of, Ask) (15).

Drilling and blasting is done to obtain the limestone. Mechanical loaders then gather it and the rocks are transported and unloaded in crushers. The limestone is washed, crushed, and screened. The limestone is moved to a limekiln by train, barge, or truck. Calcination of limestone to produce quicklime occurs in the limekiln. Then hydration of quicklime occurs where it is combined with water. There are different concentrations that is easy to pump and practical to use indifferent industrial processes. Finally the lime products are packaged and delivered in bulk or in bags by barge, train and truck (16).

I could not find much on Interface limestone other than that Interface obtains its limestone from companies (like road companies) that have leftover limestone. Interface still finds a way to lower its footprint by buying leftover materials so the limestone does not go to waste (17).

How to make carpet

I could not find out how Interface puts the carpet together specifically, so I decided to find out how other companies make their carpet. While the method I looked up is from a different company, I would assume that making carpet is similar, (though I do know Interface uses slightly different materials, machines, and methods). What makes Interface special is that the face of the carpet tiles are 100 percent either recyclable or renewable based yarn and the backing is made from recyclable carpet tiles and all the processes are driven by renewable energy (18).

Carpet is made in a three-part process, starting with tufting. First, the synthetic fibers are weaved into a primary backing material. This becomes a base cloth to hold the yarn while tufting happens. The tufting machine has 800-2000 needles to pull the yarn through the primary backing material like a sewing machine. The needles go through the backing and small hooks grabs the yarn and hold it in place. This is called loop pile construction. In some carpet styles the looper rocks back against a knife, where small loops of yarn are cut. The precision cuts are controlled by a computer and are sometimes programmed just to cut some of the loops. The second phase is the dyeing process. In the last step the backing is squeezed and heated together to firmly preserve their shape. Shearing removes all the little loose ends that might have been creating during the tufting process (19).

Transportation

Interface is all over the globe, in many different countries, that I did not touch on because I want to focus more on materials. However, transportation is still important. Interface manufactures at local sites instead of shipping products between continents to cut transportation impacts tremendously. Efficient vehicles and shifting from road to railways, ship or barges also reduces the overall transportation impact (20).

Recycling

Interface has many different programs that have to do with recycling. Replacing their virgin, petro-chemically derived fibers with recycled fibers is one of the biggest challenges Interface has had. The transition to recycled and biobased fibers are complex and costly. They work closely with their nylon suppliers, and are pioneering a recycling system, called ReEntry. ReEntry is one of many recycling system, but this program specifically produces recycled materials from old carpets. ReEntry has realty expanded their “access to recycled nylon and are starting to see a path to producing closed loop carpet products” (Challenges to Mission Zero, Interface Sustainability) (21).

Another program is the Return & Recycle Program where customers can return “their old FLOR squares to be recycled into new products” (Casting a Wide Net of Innovation, FLOR). The program turns old FLOR into new products so their collection is 100 percent recycled fibers. Interface has also created Carpet for a Cause Program, which re-purposes products on their displays by finding worthy places, within their communities, for them to live on. Because Interface has so many recycling programs, the company has a closed loop system that is beneficial to the environment (22).

Interface Offsets

Interface makes sure that their “customers known that they are purchasing not just carpet, but carbon” too. Interface truly wanted “to make a carbon-neutral carpet” (Goldstein, Allie). They thought that people should be able to vacuum their carpets without generating emissions. You cannot do this while vacuum cleans still run on fossil fuels, so Interface decided to buy carbon offsets to reduce its carbon footprint. The company calculates the emissions of its carpets from ‘cradle to grave’ and then purchases offsets to cancel those emissions. They are one of the largest purchases of voluntary carbon offsets in America (23).

Overall Interface is a successful, sustainable company that should be the basis for other companies to follow. They are aware of their harmful impact on the environment and that they can take positive steps to reduce their environmental footprint. Changing the materials of products from raw materials to recycled materials, like Interface has done, can play a huge positive impact on our Earth.

Bibliography

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{C}{C}

Jessica Chen

Professor Christina Cogdell

Design 40a

13 March 2013

Embodied Energy of Interface’s Carpet Tiles

Introduction:

In 1994, Ray Anderson put his career on the line when he deviated from the carpet norms of petroleum-intensive carpet manufacturing to create the world’s first environmentally sustainable- and, ultimately, restorative- company. (www.interface.com ) Interface’s new motto was to “radically redesign processes and products, and to pioneer new technologies and systems that reduce or eliminate waste and harmful emissions while increasing the use of renewable materials and energy sources.” (www.interface.com ) Their goal is to achieve total sustainability with zero negative impact in their production by 2020 using a closed looped system called Mission Zero.

With Mission Zero, Interface has taken an aggressive approach to reach their goal, installing renewable energy systems at their factories, and purchasing renewable energy for their facilities around the world. Interface has also replaced and upgraded equipment with more efficient alternatives, including HVAC units and lighting systems, and they’ve installed skylights and solar tubes to allow daylight in and reduce the need for electricity. (www.interfaceglobal.com). According to interfaceglobal.com, total energy use at their global factories is down 39% per unit of product since 1996. David J. MacKay states that:

The key aim of Life Cycle Thinking is to avoid ‘burden shifting’. This means minimizing impacts at one stage of the life cycle, or in a geographic region, or in a particular impact category, while helping to avoid increases elsewhere. For example, saving energy during the use phase of a product, while not increasing the amount of material needed to provide it. (www.interfaceflor.co.uk)

The embodied energy used in the life cycle of Interface’s carpet tiles touch upon the extraction of the materials, transportation of finished products and materials, production and manufacturing, installation, and recycle/ reuse. The closed loop method that Interface allows Interface to be in control of what happens to their carpet tiles after they have served their purpose. “We aim to create a cyclical process that returns materials either to the Earth (natural cycle) or back into our factories to create new carpet (industrial cycle).” (www.interfaceflor.co.uk ) According to Interface Flor and their Life Cycle Assessment, 68% of an Interface carpet tile’s life cycle affects the environment during the raw materials process, 9% comes from manufacturing, 8% is from transportation, another 8% comes from customer use, and finally, 7% comes from the end of the carpet tile’s life. According to interface.com, “The reason yarn has such a high impact is because the production of nylon requires energy-intensive chemical reactions to transform raw materials derived from oil into yarn.” So by looking at the data, majority of the embodied energy in carpet tiles come from the gathering of raw materials for production.

Raw Materials:

Interface’s carpet tiles are essentially created in two major parts, the carpet itself and the backing. The two pieces are then combined together using glue to create the finished product of a carpet tile. The carpet itself is created using yarn made up of nylon, polyester, solution-dye and wool. The backing is created from petroleum, recycled carpet and backings, and limestone. Since Interface has grown to become an international company with partners from around the globe, they also gather both “virgin” and recycled materials from around the world.

The nylon that is used in the yarn for the carpet tiles are polyamides. Nylon is a synthetic fabric made from petroleum products. Chemical and thermal energy is used to combine the components of nylon, which are elements of nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. The method used to spin nylon is melt spinning. (www.epa.gov) We weren’t able to find out the primary location of where Interface gets the materials to make the nylon. Although the nylon 6 that Interface uses in their carpet tiles are created using commercial fishing nets from Aquafil’s Net-works™ program. “The recycling of old fishing nets also protects marine animals in the ocean depths and on the beaches where the nets sometimes wash up but also provided a supplementary stream of income for local poverty-stricken fishing villagers and allows the ecosystem to regenerate.” (www.interface.com ) While gaining their raw materials, Interface is also helping the local economy by create jobs and opportunities to raise money for families.

The next item on the materials list is polyester, which is a synthetic fiber that consists of the coal, air, water, and petroleum (www.madehow.com ). Chemical, thermal, and mechanical energy are used to create polyester. All three types of energies are used in the condensation polymerization when acid and alcohol are combined together; then the material is cast through in the form of a ribbon. (www.whatispolyester.com) The three energy types are then applied again during the process of creating the melt-spun fibers. Kinetic energy is then applied to draw out the material to the desired length and width. (www.whatispolyester.com) Once the polyester fiber is ready, it is used to make spun yarns. According to FLOR, an Interface branch that sells carpet tiles, the polyester FLOR uses is solution dyed, so it has great colorfastness and eliminates the need for liquid dyes. The dyes comes from recycled plastics and polyester materials from the vast waste stream of post-consumer recycled content.(www.flor.com )

The third material product that goes into making Interface’s carpet tiles is wool. Chemical and mechanical energy are used in the process of making wool. The energy comes from having the raise and maintain the sheep, as well as processing their fleece in order to convert it into wool. (www.blackberry-ridge.com) FLOR uses 100% natural, renewable, and non-dyed wool sourced from England and New Zealand; which utilizes the resiliency from the British wool and softness from its New Zealand counterpart. (www.flor.com) Wool is the last of the materials to go into the carpet portion of the carpet tiles.

Now, the next step addition to the carpet tiles, since we covered the carpet itself, would be the carpet backings. There are two main backings that our group looked into, GlasBac® backing and Bitumen backing. For GlasBac® backing, it consists of a fully recyclable backing material made partially from vinyl and includes at least 39% pre-consumer recycled content. (www.interfaceglobal.com) Interface Global also mentioned the other backing that we looked into by stating that Bitumen backing is a petroleum-based backing that consists of 40% pre-consumer recycled backing. Both of the backings use chemical, thermal and mechanical energy in order to become the backings for Interface’s carpet tiles. Another feature material in the carpet tiles is limestone. The limestone that Interface uses to create their carpet backings come from coal-fired power plants.(www.interfaceglobal.com) Interface states that they have replaced their usage of virgin calcium carbonate with aluminosilicate glass in their carpet tile; in doing so, they decrease the usage of virgin raw materials they use, but is also reduces the impact on landfills. (www.interfaceglobal.com) Both thermal and chemical energy went into the recreation of “limestone” for carpet tiles.

Production:

We had difficulty finding the exact how Interface produced their carpet. We just assumed that they made carpet the generic way. Despite not finding information on the production of their carpet, there was plenty of information on their production of carpet backings. The Interface carpet backings are created from recycled carpet. The embodied energy found in the production process of the carpet backings consist of thermal, chemical, mechanical/kinetic, and electrical energy. To get the recycling ball rolling, they separate the face fiber and backing from the old carpet. The separated nylon is recycled into chip form, blended with other reclaimed materials and extruded into new post-consumer content fiber.(www.interface.com ) Mechanical and electrical energy are used to break down the old carpet so that is can be reprocessed into the new carpet tiles. While the old fibers are being reprocessed into new fiber, the old vinyl backing is broken down into pellets, which are then processed through their Cool Blue™ system to create GlasBac® backing. (www.interface.com) The backings are then glued to the carpet squares to create the finished product of carpet tiles.

By partnering with their suppliers to produce the reclaimed and post-industrial fibers for use as raw materials in new fibers, they’re moving closer toward a closed loop supply chain. The closed loop supply chain cuts out some of the demand for new raw materials, by reusing the material that has already been extracted and converted. In addition to other waste materials, Aquafil incorporates salvaged fishing nets into the 100% recycled content Type 6 Nylon we use. As partners in the Net-works™ program, we support new income for impoverished communities while providing “food” for new Type 6 Nylon and allowing the ecosystem to regenerate.” (www.interface.com )

Transportation:

The embodied energy in the transportation of the finished products is mainly focused on the movement from the manufactures to the consumers. The chemical energy comes from the conversions of fossil fuels in order to power the vehicles to transport the products to their final destination. Mechanical energy occurs in the movement of the vehicles. In order to cut back on the usage of fossil fuels, Interface Europe “manufactures regionally which cuts the distance that their products have to travel, creating one of the most effective methods of reducing their transport impacts.” (www.interfaceafrica.net) According to Interface, “In Europe over 99% of the products sold are manufactured in Europe. In addition, the majority of their raw materials by weight are sourced from suppliers close to their factories.” Another way that Interface cuts back on their fossil fuel consumption to save energy is by sharing transport space. In doing so, this avoids half empty trucks deliver materials when it could have been filled completely instead. “In Netherlands, where we have switched from dedicated to grouped delivery, the fill rates of our trucks have increased from 38% towards 60%.” (www.interfaceafrica.net) Interface’s international line-haul transport uses a service, called Groupage that enables them to share space with other goods for international shipping from their factories to national distribution hubs. (www.interfaceafrica.net) Interface plans to continue to improved vehicle efficiency by using alternative vehicles and biofuels to bring the biggest reductions in CO2 emissions; however, it is still a process in the making, and they are still relying on the usage of fossil fuels.

Installation:

Interface had designed a new way to install their carpet tiles, in comparison to the generic adhesive that carpenters use to install carpet. Their new design, TacTiles®, contains no fumes, no odor, and no mess. They are a safe, easy and efficient solution. According to the interface website, “The TacTiles installation system uses 3” adhesive squares called connectors. These flexible backing systems hug the floor, creating dimensional stability without glue. The tiles are connected to each other and nothing sticks to the subfloor.” Their new design saves energy in the fact that less time, money, and energy is spent on change one ruined carpet tile square rather than having to tear out all the carpet in the room. In addition to easy installation and replacement, TacTiles® have virtually zero VOCs and an environmental footprint that’s more than 90% lower than traditional carpet adhesives; TacTiles offer a more sustainable installation option. (www.interface.com) By reducing the amount of waste produced due to the modularity of the carpet tiles, less has to be produced to replace the damaged products.

Recycle/ reuse:

However, when the carpet tiles have lived its useful life, Interface has the option of a Return & Recycle Program. It gives customers the chance to help recycle their old FLOR carpet squares. When Interface’s Georgia facilities receive the material to be recycled, face fiber and back are cleanly separated using a new patented technology, ReEntry 2.0. (www.flor.com) The separated type 6 and 6,6 nylon face fibers are sent to our fiber partners to be reconstituted into new recycled nylon fibers. This new post-consumer recycled fiber is then available for purchase to be used in future products. Flor.com states that the separated backing is shredded into small pellets and heated/melted using their patented Cool Blue™ technology to create post-consumer recycled GlasBac®RE backing. The backing is then used in the new carpet tiles that are sent to customers to use. The usage of chemical, thermal, and kinetic energy allows Interface to refabricate old carpet into new carpet, without wasting virgin raw materials to make more products.

Renewable & Recycled Content:

One of the most obvious ways to reduce emissions is by using less energy. After energy conservation, Interface looked into renewable energy to help them improve our emissions. Interface made it their goal to operate their facilities with 100 percent renewable energy, including solar, wind, landfill gas, among others. (www.sustainablebusiness.com) The total amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted throughout the life of a carpet tile – from raw materials, manufacturing, use and maintenance through to disposal at end of life – is calculated in CO2 equivalents. Interface then works with partners to purchase verified carbon offsets that cancel out these emissions. (www.interfaceflor.co.uk)

Conclusion:

Interface carpet tiles are the carpet of the future. The company’s mission zero goals are inspirational in that it views the environment from all angles as well as being aware of how their actions could affect the environment in the future. With the reuse of old carpets, Interface is preventing more trash, old carpets, and discarded fishing nets from filling up all the landfills. Their closed looped method allows Interface to not have to extract virgin raw materials from the environment, reuse old materials that are still intact, and preventing more reusable waste from building up. The embodied energy used to create Interface carpet tiles flows from one process to the next; in the end creating a beautiful finished product that can be changed in the future to become something new.

Bibliography

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Melyssa Lee

Des 40A

Interface Carpet Tiles Wastes and Emissions

Interface is the world's largest designer and manufacturer of carpet tiles. It was founded by Ray Anderson in 1973 and in 1994, he challenged his company to develop a way to demonstrate to the world what it means to be sustainable with consideration of every aspect of the carpet tile process. This prompted the creation of Mission Zero which is their goal to become the first fully sustainable company with no negative impact on the environment. They want to sustain the environment, sustain society through educating their employees about the company's impact of the environment, and sustain the world's economic health by producing products that are profitable. They also plan to achieve this goal by 2020 ("Sustainability: Mission Zero"). In order to do so, they have organized their goal into seven steps called the Seven Fronts. The first is to eliminate waste which is considered industrial waste that ends up in landfills, things that do not contribute to the product's function, and activities that can be done more efficiently. The second front is to eradicate emissions such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) from fossil fuels. The third is to reduce their energy demands by replacing nonrenewable resources with renewable ones, and the fourth front is called closing the loop. This means that they want to design processes and products that use resources that can be recovered or reused. The fifth front is concerned with improving the efficiency of the transportation of people and products. Informing its employees on the impact the company has on the environment is the sixth front, and the last front focuses on redesigning commerce by altering their purchasing choices and production processes ("Seven Fronts"). Since its inception in 1994, the company has made many accomplishments and is very close to achieving their objective. Overall, Interface is a corporation that strives to be completely sustainable by adjusting all aspects of its manufacturing processes in order to reduce its contribution of waste into the environment. This essay is a organized compilation of the research I have done on the waste and emission outputs in the full life cycle of Interface's carpet tiles along with discussing some of the programs they have created that contributes to their seven step process; thus, helping achieve their Mission Zero objective.

I will start with my findings on the waste and emissions from obtaining and creation of raw materials. More than half of all the waste produced in the carpet tile life cycle are due to these raw materials (Arratia). Nylon, polyester, and wool are three main raw materials used in creating the yarn for carpet tiles ("Design"). As stated in Arratia's blog post, "nylon production accounts for almost half of the impacts across the full lifecycle of a carpet tile". Nylon 6, is produced by polymerization from caprolactam and "Nylon 66 polymer is made from adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine". These two compounds react to form AH salt and the salt is washed in a "methyl alcohol bath". Then, under heat and pressure in a batch process, polymerization happens. Next is the fiber spinning and processing procedures which include heating to melt the polymer which is then forced through a spinnerette at high pressure into "a relatively cooler air stream that solidifies the filaments". By converging the individual filaments using a thread guide, you produce a continuous filament yarn that is "immediately wound onto bobbins or is further treated for certain desired characteristics or end use." The major pollutants emitted during the whole process is volatilized monomer and oil vapors or mists. Spinning can release aerosol emissions from lubricants and oils that are sometimes added during the process. It can also cause VOC emissions as well as caprolactam emissions because the heat could revert the polymer into monomer form. There is also a monomer recovery system used for this as well as catalytic incinerators for other small emissions ("Chapter 6"). Because it is recyclable and stain resistant, Interface uses nylon as "the basis for most of their[our] construction" ("Design").

Polyester is a synthetic material that is petroleum based ("Design"). Polyester or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is produced " from ethylene glycol and either dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) or terephthalic acid (TPA)". It is manufactured either by polymerization equipment creating molten PET by melt spinning or "spinning reheated polymer chips." Extruders thrust the molten polymer through the spinnerettes which spins the polyester fiber. Then, by blowing the filaments with cold air, the filament is solidified. They are led through a fiber finishing application and are "towed, hauled off, and coiled into spinning cans." The air pollutants emitted from polyester production include " polymer dust from drying operations, volatilized residual monomer, fiber lubricants (in the form of fume or oil smoke), and the burned polymer and combustion products from cleaning the spinning equipment." Finish oils can also be applied in the spinning process and are vaporized or vented to demisters or catalytic incinerators which "oxidize significant quantities of volatile hydrocarbons" ("Chapter 6"). According to an article called "Polyester Production Pollution", the manufacturing of polyester releases emissions such as carbon dioxide, VOCs, nitrous oxide particulate matter, and acid gases as well as by-products that include volatile monomer and solvents. Along with using virgin polyester, Interface also tries to use recycled polyester which is made using products such as recycled plastics and polyester materials. Using these "post- consumer recycled content" to create its polyester, helps to maintain Interface's goal of being sustainable ("Design").

Wool is another material Interface uses in its carpet tiles. After the sheep are sheared and the fleece is transported to the plant, it is dirty and contaminated with natural substances that needs to be removed. Once that is done, the scouring process begins. In this process, the wool is bended, de-dusted, washed in four hot detergent bowls, passed through four rinsing tanks to remove waste such as lanolin, dirt, and sweat from the greasy wool. During the scouring, it is treated with disodium octaborate tetrahydrate which protects it from fire and insects. Then it is dried and packaged. The waste produced in the process of making wool is dust and lanolin from blending as well as spadeable sludge, liquid sludge, and waste water from washing and rinsing. The drying procedure also produces dust ("Life Cycle Assessments of Natural Fibre Insulation Materials"). Interface, in an effort to be sustainable and still maintain quality goods, claim to use 100 percent natural, 100 percent renewable and 100 percent non-dyed wool sourced from England and New Zealand ("Design").

Although Interface uses these materials, they try their best to use recycled materials. In the beginning they were told it was impossible but since 2000, they have developed a way to reuse recycled yarn. Today, the majority of their carpet tiles contain recycled yarn. In addition, in 2011, Biosfera was created as the first carpet tile to use "100% recycled nylon yarn" ("368 colourways - 100% recycled yarn"). Moreover, Interface is currently thinking about how to reduce their raw material impact in other ways such as inventing a new yarn and reducing the amount of yarn used.

The most difficult part of this research project was researching the specific manufacturing process for producing carpet at Interface. However, I found a lot of general manufacturing waste and emission information. For example, the company's waste includes "window waste" which is "trimmings from cutting tiles out of rolls of carpet", "scrapped products from faults or misdirected shipments", plastic and cardboard cones, scrap yarn, packaging, and "paper and cardboard from factories and offices" ("Sustainability: Eliminate Waste"). Window waste is being reduced through new developments such as the Cool Green Machine in the UK. This recycling process works by taking the carpet trimmings and cutting them into small pieces. Then, the pieces are formed into pellets, finely ground in the pulveriser, entered into a melting machine, and into backing for new carpets ("Sustainability: Towards Mission Zero: The Cool Green Machine"). Since I could not find emissions and waste for producing Interface carpet tiles, I looked up the process of producing carpet and its emissions. Basically, the carpet is made by a tufting machine that acts like a large sewing machine. It pulls the yarn through the primary backing material which is synthetic or staple fibers weaved together. Then, it is dyed, coated in latex, and sheared. Shearing is when the loose ends and projected fibers are removed ("How Carpet is Made"). The whole carpet process creates emissions such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) (Mulholland). It was difficult to find other waste emissions and ones that were more specific. Furthermore, these steps may also vary with Interface's process because of their desire to be more sustainable.

Transportation is the fifth front of the Seven Fronts that Interface is working on to make it more sustainable. The goal is to reduce the waste and emissions produced when transporting people and products. Transportation is 8-10% of the total impact of a carpet tile in the full life cycle ("Just the Facts: Transport"). The most prominent emission released during transportation is carbon dioxide which contributes to global warming. In order to reduce CO₂, Interface must decrease the distance the carpets have to travel to customers which is why they are located in the areas that they supply. Raw materials are also taken from sources nearby factories. In addition, there are other methods used to reduce the impact that transportation has on the climate such as multi-modal transport. This is when "the most energy-efficient type of transport is used for each part of the journey, for example by switching from truck to barge o train." Interface also does group deliveries so that their product is transported with other merchandise from other companies ("Sustainability: Resource Efficient Transportation"). Another emission that is released during transport is nitrogen oxide which also affects climate change. To reduce this as well as CO₂, Interface plans to use more efficient and alternative vehicles and the use biofuels ("Just the Facts: Transport"). In addition to all these actions taken to achieve an environmentally friendly transportation, Interface has also created programs that further contribute to waste and emission reduction. For example, the Trees for Travel™ program plants trees to “neutralize the carbon emissions from business related air travel" ("Transportation"). Two other programs are Cool Fuel™ and Cool CO2mmute™. The Cool Fuel™ program calculates the offset carbon emissions from company cars and purchases "certified carbon offsets to balance the carbon emissions" ("Transportation"). On the other hand, the Cool CO2mmute™ program offers Interface employees the option of contributing to purchasing tree plantings that will counterbalance carbon emissions from their commutes and personal travel ("Transportation"). These programs and the other actions that Interface has made to improve transportation efficiency while reducing waste proves that Interface is concerned about their impact beyond the factory.

Interface also looks into the amount of emissions produced in the customer use aspect of their carpet tiles. The emissions that are produced during use are coming from the vacuum. These include VOCs, dust, and small particles ("Controlling VOC Emissions from Process-Unit-Turnaround and Vacuum-Producing Systems in Petroleum Refineries"). Vacuums also run on fossil fuel so the energy it takes for it to work is harmful to the environment. According to Allie Goldstein, a Research Assistant in Ecosystem Marketplace's Carbon Program,

A carpet typically lasts seven years, and that much vacuuming and cleaning leads to about three times the carbon emissions that were generated during its manufacture. What’s more, even if Interface limited its carbon-neutral ambitions to the manufacturing process, the cost of squeezing the last bits of greenhouse gas out of the process would drive the cost of their carpets through the roof.

Unfortunately, the only thing Interface cannot control is when the carpet is in use because it is in possession of the customer.

From the research I have done, it seems that Interface puts its main focus on eliminating waste and emissions at the end of the life cycle. The waste that does enter the landfill accumulates or decays and emits methane. This greenhouse gas is "25 times more potent than carbon dioxide" ("Sustainability: Closing the Loop"). However, there has been an 84% decrease in total waste from carpet tiles sent to landfills since 1996 ("Waste"). This is due to the recycling of material in programs such as the ReEntry™ program. It is part of InterfaceFLOR's recycling program. InterfaceFLOR is a subsection of Interface that designs and markets the carpet tiles ("FLOR"). Its ReEntry™ program recycles used or old carpet and converts it into new carpet or other products. Interface even states that the processes uses less nonrenewable resources and fuel. The process starts by evaluating if the carpet is able to be recycled because they do not just recycle Interface carpet but also carpets from other companies. Then, it is transported to a ReEntry™ recycling location where the carpet backing and yarn are separated. Thus, yarn such as nylon will be able to be recycled into new nylon, new backing, and other products ("The War on Waste").

There is another program created by Interface that plays a large role in getting rid of greenhouse gas emissions of the life cycle of a carpet tile. This program is called the Cool Carpet™ program. According to the Cool Carpet Brochure, it comes standard with your purchase of a carpet in North America. Once Interface calculates the green house gas emissions of the entire life cycle of your carpet, they balance it out with cool carbon offsets. This means that they "invest in renewable energy and other products that prevent GHG emissions from entering the atmosphere ("Cool Carpet", 4). For example, Interface has purchased carbon offsets credits created by "the replacement of natural gas boilers with biomass boilers for Mid American Growers" which is "one of the largest single site commercial growing operations in the United States" ("Cool Carpet", 4). They also purchased credits that reduce deforestation and protect ecosystems. Although they are reducing the total amount of emissions during their carpet tile life cycle, Interface is still searching for ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

From this research project, I have learned that Interface is very serious about being sustainable. They have created many programs that counteract the waste emissions from their carpet and allowed the world to access information about their progress. The carpet tiles themselves help to reduce waste because they can be easily replaced and you only have to replace that one tile instead of the whole floor. However, during my research, I could not find a description on how to make a carpet tile and the emissions they produce, specifically for manufacturing. They also do not specify where they get their raw materials or what companies are their suppliers. Although it was a challenge to find some things, it is obvious that Interface is invested in researching the waste and emissions in every aspect of their life cycle and achieving Mission Zero.

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