Beaulieu and TacFast: Good Green Partners

The green product world has its major players – the companies we all recognize as leaders – but it is also populated by others that are innovating in multiple ways to make our buildings greener.

Beaulieu Commercial, a Georgia based carpet company and TacFast Systems, a manufacturer of hook and loop backing systems, recently announced a strategic partnership aimed at providing a total adhesive-free, free-floating carpet tile installation system.

Beaulieu redesigned the underside of its carpet tiles with a loop that will attach to the hook on TacFast’s LocPlate substrate to create a mechanical bond that holds the flooring surface in place securely, yet is releasable. “Adding a loop to the underside of our carpet tiles significantly changes the backing composition reducing the weight of the tile – making it compatible for the LocPlate technology,” states James Lesslie, President Beaulieu Commercial.

The LocPlate product line, a modular floor that can be installed over any subfloor, without any attachment to the subfloor, eliminates the need for emission-causing adhesives. As a detachable floor covering solution, the systems adds flexibility and opportunities for reuse, a hallmark of green materials.

“This partnership allows us to offer our customers unique solutions for carpet tile installations that have not been possible before,” states Lesslie, “and strengthens and extends our already strong environmental carpet initiatives.”

Beaulieu, the world’s largest privately owned carpet company, has greened itself in numerous ways. It invests in green renewable energy credits to off-set 100 percent of its in-house greenhouse gas emissions from all of its plants. It also guarantees to use two pounds of post consumer waste for every pound of waste produced.

Another of its backing products, Nexterra, is a blend of 35 percent post consumer content from recycled water, soda bottles, and 50 percent post consumer re-cycled glass. There is also a nifty website that allows users to calculate the number of plastic bottles diverted from landfills. 100 square yards of Nexterra backed carpet = 3498 bottles diverted.