Attendees walk the show floor during the grand opening of Greenbuild 2010 at McCormick Place West in Chicago.


Exhibitors at the recent Greenbuild 2010 conference in Chicago largely promoted their products’ sustainability platforms. While new products were on display at the three-day event that drew 28,000 people, many had been launched during the annual NeoCon show in Chicago last June.

The message of Greenbuild was environmental transparency. “We are now offering environmental labels that, similar to nutrition labels, list the ingredients in the products and the energy and resources used to make the product,” said Kim Matsoukas, Bentley Prince Street sustainability manager.

Shaw Industries displayed copies of its second annual Sustainability Report. “It contains a variety of metrics,” said Peter Sigmon, Shaw vp innovation. “We want to be transparent in how we measure our sustainability efforts.”

At the CBC Flooring exhibit, from left: Jeff Collum, CBC’s director of flooring; Carlos Camps, Indelval rubber flooring vp; Damian Rivarola, Indelval’s technical and promotional dept., and Edward “Chip” Braulick, CBC Flooring’s sr. marketing manager.

Mohawk Industries’ booth followed the main categories of its recent Sustainability Report: Products, Processes, People and Performance. “We’ve set some achievable goals, with 25 percent reductions in energy, water, waste and greenhouse gases over the next 10 years,” said Jenny Cross, Mohawk’s global sustainability director.

Tandus Flooring promoted its Environmental Center closed-loop reclamation site in Dalton, the first reclamation center to be certified by Scientific Certification Systems. “It’s the only facility of its kind that has been third-party certified,” noted Ross Leonard, Tandus director of marketing. He said the move brought more transparency.

Invista showcased its Antron carpet fiber’s First Life sustainability platform. The company has made a pledge to reduce its overall energy intensity by 20 percent by 2020. “We’re looking at the machines we run, and ways to produce energy with cleaner sources,” said Sarah Wilson, Antron sr. marketing specialist.

Centiva’s Garth Gaffney, director production/research & development, and Michael Finger, director business development & sustainability, stand next to a display showing the manufacturing waste that Centiva recycles into new product.

Looking to reduce waste, Crossville launched a Sustainable Samples chip box, which contains photo-realistic scans of its tile products on recyclable cards. “People are still going to want real samples, but this allows them to pinpoint the ones they really need,” explained Laurie Lyza, Crossville director of marketing.

Johnsonite promoted its Balanced Choice sustainability platform through its recently launched Ecolibrium Wall Base, a product that contains rubber, olefin and natural fillers in the form of walnut and oyster shells. “From a sustainability standpoint, this is big news, because it’s a wall base with bio-based material,” noted Jeff Krejsa, Johnsonite’s vp marketing, North America.

Milliken promoted its overall sustainability message and the wide range of certifications on its products, including SMART Platinum certification. According to Bill Gregory, Milliken is the only carpet company to achieve the certification, which measures a product’s life cycle and social performance among other criteria. “The message of transparency is critical to evaluating a company and choosing products with the right certifications,” Gregory said.

Greenbuild 2011 is set for Oct. 5-7 in Toronto, Canada. For more information, visit www.greenbuildexpo.org.