Market Colletion: Waste Not, Want Not

-- Interior Design, 5/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

After thousands of footsteps, countless castor gouges, and the occasional errant egg roll, who needs worn-out carpet? That would be InterfaceFlor, introducing its Convert carpet tiles. They're produced with the help of ReEntry 2.0, the latest evolution of this manufacturer's closed-loop repurposing technology. Here's the drill: Old carpet is collected at the mill, where various face fibers and vinyl backing go their separate ways. The former are shipped to Universal Fibers, melted, re-formed as chips, extruded as new nylon, and returned to InterfaceFlor. Meanwhile, the latter stays on-site to be shredded, converted into pellets, and turned into GlasBac backing.

Once the face and backing are reunited, the results are twofold. First is a total recycled content as high as 72 percent. Second is noticeably more variety and color than is typical when closed-loop nylon is recycled. The 13 patterns debuting at NeoCon include the textured solid What Goes Around, intertwining Reissued, striated Fresh Start, and a pair of linear patterns, Reincarnation and Rags to Riches. Patterns come in four to 24 colorways. 800-336-0225; interfaceflor.com. circle 425