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Interface Releases Environmental Stats From 2008; Continues Positive Trends

Carpet manufacturer Interface has released its 2008 Ecometrics results, its annual self-measurement of its energy, water, waste and emissions performance.

Modular carpet maker Interface has released its latest Ecometrics results, its annual self-measurement system that looks at energy, water, waste, materials, greenhouse gas emissions and safety.

Interface started its Ecometrics analysis in 1995, and set baseline measurements in 1996 that compares future results to.

By the end of 2008, Interface had reduced its net greenhouse gas emissions 71 percent compared to 1996, with 34 percent of that figure coming from actual reductions and 37 percent from offsets.

The company has also reduced energy consumption per unit of production by 44 percent and brought the amount of renewable energy supplying its global energy needs to 28 percent, with three factories running entirely on clean energy.

As for waste, Interface's ReEntry program for reusing or downcycling used carpet took in 43 million pounds of carpet and carpet scraps, bringing the total amount of carpet waste collected since 1995 to 175 million pounds. Just last year Interface introduced its ReEntry 2.0 program, which reuses carpet backing and face fiber.

In addition to recycling, Interface uses recycled content in its products, and 24 percent of the raw materials it uses in its operations is recycled or bio-based material.

Although the amount of waste Interface sent to landfills rose from 2002 to 2005, since then it has slowly been going back down, and the company last year send 67 percent less waste to landfills than in 1996, avoiding, since then, $405 million in cumulative waste costs.

Carpet pile - CC license by *saxon*

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