Let’s hear it for Milliken Carpet, whose “Earth Square” renewable carpet program won Buildings and Buildings Interiors magazines’ top honors at NeoCon 2000 World's Trade Fair in Chicago this week.

Earth Square is a new process that yields 100% post-consumer recycled content tile at around half the cost of new carpet tiles – allowing the carpet material to be used again and again. The process landed Milliken the trade show’s top prize for environmental solutions.

According to a company statement, Earth Square is the market's only renewable carpet program. It is intended to give businesses and organizations an alternative to dumping old carpet in landfills. Renewing carpet saves resources associated with replacing or recycling carpet and attacks the problem of an estimated 4 billion pounds of carpet sent to landfills annually.

Earth Square departs from traditional recycling efforts that shred carpet for secondary markets as the old carpet is actually renewed and reused in the recovery program.

Wayne Hunter, Milliken’s floor covering, KEX, and airbag division president, takes the long view:

“With the Earth Square process, Milliken is changing the way businesses view carpet by transforming it from a disposal liability to a renewable asset," said Hunter. "We are very honored to receive this environmental recognition from a leading industry publication.”

Milliken Carpet, based in LaGrange, GA, is a division of Milliken & Company, an international textile and chemical manufacturer.

NeoCon 2000 drew more than 50,000 facilities managers and design professionals to Chicago’s Merchandise Mart.