(LaGrange, Georgia) September 12, 2006 InterfaceFLOR Commercial, the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpets, announced today that it has certified 94 percent of its products to the Sustainable Carpet Assessment Draft Standard – NSF 140, as announced yesterday by Scientific Certifications Systems of Emeryville, California. Additionally, all of InterfaceFLOR Commercial’s GlasBac RE products are certified at the NSF 140 standard’s highest level – Platinum. The announcement is through the SCS Sustainable Choice certification program, created specifically to certify carpet products to the NSF-140 Draft Standard.
“We are proud to be part of an industry which has worked so hard to raise the bar on third party certified, environmentally responsible products,” said David Hobbs, president of InterfaceFLOR Commercial, LLC. “And, we are pleased that innovation at InterfaceFLOR Commercial can play a part in making us a leader in producing environmentally preferable products.”
This new draft standard for sustainable carpet replaces the original Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP) Standard to which InterfaceFLOR previously certified its products.
“The Draft Standard NSF 140 is more than a seal of approval,” explains Paul Firth, manager of sustainable strategies for Interface, Inc. “It recognizes manufacturers like InterfaceFLOR who are on a continuous improvement path, and gives the marketplace a road-map for specifying environmentally friendly products. With InterfaceFLOR having more than 94% of its product sales covered at the Gold and Platinum levels, this is truly a remarkable achievement that no one else can claim.”
The new draft standard has four levels of certification: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Products on GlasBac® and NexStep® are certified as SCS Sustainable Choice Gold/EPP. Products on GlasBac® RE have been certified as SCS Sustainable Choice Platinum/EPP, the highest level.
With the introduction of this draft standard, the State of California has implemented a mandate regarding all State purchases of carpet (modular and broadloom). All carpet specified for State of California projects must meet the Gold level in Draft Standard NSF 140, with the following additional requirements.
Additional Requirements for “California Gold”:
• Carpet must contain at least 10% post consumer content
• Carpet must meet the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus requirements for indoor air quality
• Carpet must meet the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) recycling goals
• Carpet must not contain PBDE Flame Retardants (polybrominated diphenyl ethers)
• Manufacturer must have completed a life cycle assessment process for the product category (i.e. modular, broadloom, etc.)
While all of InterfaceFLOR Commercial’s GlasBac RE products are certified at the NSF 140 standard’s highest level – Platinum, they will also meet California’s requirements, thereby qualifying them as “California Platinum.”
For more information on the NSF 140 Sustainable Carpet Assessment Draft Standard view this site:
http://www.nsf.org/business/standards_and_publications/pdf/NSF_140-05-DS.pdf
For more information on the California Gold Sustainable Standard, view this site:
http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/green/epp/standards.pdf.
Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), an independent certifier of multiple facets of the food industry, forest and marine management programs and a wide variety of claims related to environmental achievement in product manufacturing.
InterfaceFLOR Commercial, LLC, is a division of Interface, Inc., and is the world’s largest producer manufacturer of commercial modular carpet. For 33 years, the company has consistently led the industry through innovation and environmental sustainability. InterfaceFLOR is setting the pace for development of modular carpet using materials and processes that take less from the environment, and is well along the path to “Mission Zero,” the company’s promise to eliminate any negative impact it has on the environment by the year 2020. Interface’s worldwide carpet manufacturing facilities maintain third party registration to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System; and the company has been recognized globally for its commitment to build environmental considerations into its business decisions. For more information contact Lisa Lilienthal at 404.661.3679 or [email protected]. .