Each year, the non-profit National Recycling Coalition recognizes cutting-edge recycling and waste-reduction achievements when it hands out its Annual Awards at the Annual Congress & Expo in Minneapolis, Minnesota. C&A Floorcoverings, a Tandus company, earned the organization’s award for Outstanding Recycling Innovation--Product or Process for its Ethos carpet backing. It was the only manufacturer from the interior design industry to take a prize.

Ethos was introduced in June 2004. The backing is made from PVB--or polyvinyl butyral, a nonchlorinated vinyl--film recovered from recycled safety and windshield glass. Ethos contains 76 percent post-consumer recycled content, while the recycled content of the overall carpet can be as much as half, depending on the style.

Ethos carpets are entirely recyclable and, like all C&A products, can be reclaimed via the manufacturer’s take-back program, which guarantees that all vinyl-backed carpet reclaimed for recycling will be made into new floorcoverings, and never landfilled or incinerated. In fact, C&A will reclaim any vinyl-backed carpet after its useful life, regardless of the manufacturer--paying the customer for it. Since 1995, its Center for Environmental Innovation has reclaimed and recycled nearly 100 million pounds of carpet and industrial waste.

“It’s important that we provide our customers a choice of environmentally preferable products at a comparable cost without compromising performance,” says Dobbin Callahan, general manager of government markets for Tandus. Hence, many of its products can contribute toward the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED green building credits.