Offsetting the Impacts of Cushioned Carpet Tile

When it comes to weighing sustainability, design, and comfort, few products have the challenges that carpet does. On the one hand, it is comfortable to walk on, it absorbs sound, and there are colors and patterns to complement nearly any design. But for all these positives, carpet has a history of containing potentially hazardous chemicals, being made from fossil fuels, and lacking recycling at the end of its use phase—which can be as short as five years—after which it almost always ends up in the landfill or is burned for energy.

The carpet industry has been trying to change this narrative by moving away from PVC backings, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) treatments, and other problematic materials, and offering better life-cycle performance. High carbon footprints are being reduced through takeback programs, products that offer “regenerative design” (such as Shaw’s EcoWorx tiles), and those that use biobased materials and other systems to become carbon negative, such as Interface’s CQuest BioX (a BuildingGreen Top 10 product).