When it comes to environmental friendliness, Mohawk may best be known for being the largest recycler of plastic soda bottles as well as the first manufacturer to use a bio-based polymer in its residential carpet fibers. But the truth is Mohawk is a corporate leader in terms of being a friend to the earth. It has so many green initiatives they permeate throughout the company. In fact, there’s not an area within the company where something to help preserve the planet is not being done.

Jeff Lorberbaum, Mohawk’s chairman and CEO, said environenvironmental mental stewardship is one of the core values within the company. “Quality of life, quality of the environment, quality of products and processes is a by-product of all we do—from the boardroom to the employees on the production floor and to our field sales staff. Doing the right thing takes effort, but we’ve learned that what works for the environment works for our business, our industry and all of us.”

With so much publicity nowadays on what companies are doing to protect the environment, many people may think this is a relatively new phenomena. Fact is, for more than a decade Mohawk has quietly made sustainability a core component of its business. The majority of its efforts have been “behind the scenes” such as reducing phosphorous emissions at its factories in the Dalton area by 70% over the last two years or cutting in half the amount of water it needs to make carpet since 1995.

What follows is a brief listing of a few of the myriad of environmental initiatives Mohawk has implemented over the years beyond its carpet fiber recycling efforts, which have been well documented. As you’ll see, while many are part of a process that allows the company to have more than 500 products containing recycled materials, some are as simple as installing high performance T8 fluorescent bulbs in its plants and new office occupancy sensors that can tell if no one is in the room—and turn off the lights.

It may not sound like much, but for an $8 billion company it adds up to tremendous savings for the planet.

1. Mohawk recycles not only plastic bottles. The caps are thrown in with stretch film waste, carpet edge trim and post-consumer carpet to make durable plastic cores instead of the traditional papers ones used to transport carpet. The plastic cores can also be used many more times, and when they’re too old or worn the plastic is again melted down and recycled to make new cores. It’s estimated that by using plastic rather than paper, Mohawk saves over 68,000 trees annually.

2. Last year, Mohawk recycled 30 million pounds of crumb rubber tires—the equivalent of 720,000 tires—into designer doormats. That’s more tires than are on every taxi cab in the city of Chicago.

3. For high-end carpet pads, Mohawk purchases polyurethane foam scraps that come from manufacturing new mattresses, new furniture and rejected seats from new cars.

4. Encycle, recyclable carpet tile. Encycle is non-PVC carpet tile that can be completely recycled back into itself in a very efficient process. Encycle carpet that has reached the end of its useful life is thermally reactivated and made into new Encycle backing without ever separating the face fiber from the backing layers, allowing Mohawk to use less energy and save resources in the recycling process. Encycle uses a minimum of 28% less virgin raw materials than its previous generation PVC modular carpet tiles. It contains a minimum of 35% pre-consumer recycled content (by total product weight) and a minimum of 2% bio-based renewable content, and very soon a post-consumer content version of Encycle will be introduced to the marketplace. A standard box of 24-inch Encycle carpet tiles weighs approximately 16 pounds less than a similar box of PVC carpet tiles. That weight difference saves on shipping and fuel costs while also giving installers a more ergonomically friendly product to work with.

5. To treat wastewater, at its Sugar Valley, Ga., facility, Mohawk built a small aerobic treatment unit that uses microbes to break down waste, and constructed two wetlands fields to filter out phosphorous, nitrogen and other nutrients that can cause water pollution problems such as algae blooms. Some of these systems have even been implemented with multiple-use objectives in mind, such as using treated wastewater effluent to help create and restore wetland habitat for wildlife use and environmental enhancement. The result is water that is often cleaner after passing through Mohawk’s wetlands than if treated in more conventional facilities.

6. Its facility in Dublin, Ga., is surrounded on three sides by a vibrant wetland ecosystem. Built in 1965 with the environment in mind, the facility sits on 1,300 acres of natural wetlands and provides a healthy habitat for all kinds of plants and wildlife, including the federally protected gopher tortoise and the blue indigo snake.

7. Environmentally certified. Mohawk’s plants in Glasgow, Va., and Landrum, S.C., have both received ISO 14001 certification, and the company is in the process of certifying many other facilities during 2008. ISO 14001 is an Environmental Management System certification awarded by the International Organization of Standardization.

8. Nearly all (97%) of Mohawk’s ceramic tile SKUs contain some recycled waste byproducts from both internal and external manufacturing processes. Currently the recycled material makeup is 45% to 64 % in floor tile, 31% to 44 % in wall tile and 7% to 22% in mosaics.

9. Last year alone, Mohawk recycled more than 197 million pounds of waste material from another manufacturing process and more than 55 million pounds of waste fired tile. When waste fired tile can’t be utilized, it becomes available for beneficial state- approved reuse projects, even as replacement raw material in the brick and cement industry. In total, over 64 million pounds of waste fired tile were diverted from landfills in 2006.

10. In recent years Mohawk has begun using automobile glass, a post-consumer ingredient, in its carpet products to reduce the amount of virgin raw materials required for production. Three of its most popular backing systems now contain significant levels of recycled automobile glass in their material make-up.

11. All of Mohawk’s manufacturing plants recover and recycle wastewater to the maximum extent possible. In fact, four facilities discharge almost NO wastewater. Mohawk recovered and reused more than 64 million gallons of processed wastewater in 2006 alone.

12. For a recent plant upgrade, Mohawk diverted 95% of the old equipment from landfills in three ways: 1) Modifying and reusing the equipment in a new production line; 2) Shipping the equipment for reuse in other Mohawk manufacturing facilities, and 3) Recycling the equipment through a company called Cycle System that recycled more than 2 million pounds of the mill’s steel, stainless steel and wiring. In addition, Mohawk donated all the removed dirt and concrete to a local company to be used for fill. As a result, it virtually eliminated the environmental impact of this upgrade.

13. Over the last two years Mohawk also upgraded to newer, fuel-efficient equipment and decreased downtime with kiln loading. Plant lighting was replaced with high performance T8 fluorescent bulbs. New office occupancy sensors can tell if no one is in the room and turn off the lights. The result: Energy savings equaling enough natural gas to fuel more than 6,000 homes for an entire year and enough electricity to service more than 1,700 homes.

14. Because designers still have to use some actual carpet samples, Mohawk extended its highly successful ReCover program with Sample ReCover, which collects and recycles carpet samples.

15. Approximately 90% of Mohawk’s Rebond cushion comes from materials diverted from the landfill; approximately 90% of its synthetic cushion comes from materials diverted from the landfill, and its Permalink adhesive film makes it possible to divert 100% of old carpet without even lifting it off the floor. It becomes the cushion for new carpet tile instead of being sent to a landfill.

16. Online custom design tools such as Folio 12 and Folio 54 for Mohawk’s Karastan broadloom and modular carpets. Sample simulations require zero oil to produce and use 95% less water and energy in production than tufted samples. In addition, the paper used to print these high quality, color-accurate samples is 100% recyclable. They also save on gasoline and packing materials as they are much smaller and lighter to ship than tufted samples.

17. SIMS technology significantly reduces the need for tufted samples during the design process. Instead of needing to work with actual carpet samples, designers can view simulations of designs, colors and even textures with remarkable accuracy. Every simulated sample saves one quart of oil and eliminates the fuel necessary to ship carpet samples as all SIM design files are sent electronically.

18. As much as 200 million pounds of manufacturing waste products are recycled each year to make Mohawk’s Rebond cushion. This waste comes from mattress makers to automobile seat and child seat manufacturers. Altogether, the company has produced 110 million square yards of synthetic cushion from waste material. That’s enough carpet pad to cover well over 17,000 football fields–without using a single pound of virgin fiber.

19. LifeLoc Laminate commercial carpet backing system is a high performance backing system engineered for heavy commercial use. This 100% urethane laminate system includes a minimum of 38% pre-consumer recycled content, 3% post-consumer recycled content and 4% bio-based rapidly renewable content by total product weight. It is referred to as a “low embodied energy” product, meaning the amount of energy consumed in its production is very minimal compared with similar products.

20. LifeLoc Cushion is a highly ergonomic backing designed to provide continued comfort and support in commercial environments. It is made up of a minimum of 36% pre-consumer recycled content, 3% post-consumer recycled content and 7% bio-based rapidly renewable content. Both LifeLoc Laminate and LifeLoc Cushion are also designed to extend the life of the carpet, reducing the amount of carpet that is thrown away and helping to ensure a cleaner, brighter future for the planet.