Recycling EcoWorx Products: Our Environmental Guarantee

EcoWorx products are backed with an Environmental Guarantee. It’s our way of saying, “We want it back.” All EcoWorx products have an 800 number printed on the back – 800.509.SHAW. Call and Shaw will transport and recycle any EcoWorx tile or broadloom carpet at no cost to you. Recycling EcoWorx is easy and hassle-free, making it easy for you to recycle your used carpet, saving valuable time and money on landfill fees.

• Continental U.S. and Canada Guarantee: Shaw will take back 500 yards or greater of EcoWorx material at no cost to you.
• Alaska, Hawaii, other U.S. Territories and Mexico Guarantee: Shaw will take back 5,000 yards or greater of EcoWorx material at no cost to you and will assume the cost to transport the product to our recycling facilities.
• International Guarantee: Shaw will take back 5,000 yards or greater of EcoWorx material from any international port at no cost to you. Shaw will pay for the transportation cost of EcoWorx material from any international port and will assume the cost to transport the product to our recycling facilities.

Material must meet the following requirements:

• Free of all types of debris and uncontaminated by any toxic substances, such as solvents. Adhesive residue on the backing is acceptable
• No other carpet tile backing, such as PVC, or other roll carpet backings may be mixed on EcoWorx pallets
• EcoWorx Broadloom and Performance Broadloom products must be cut and rolled no longer than 3 feet wide

For more information and to arrange for recycling of EcoWorx carpet products, call 800.509.SHAW.

Recycling of Non-EcoWorx Products

In order to recycle non-EcoWorx carpet, a minimum of 500 square yards must be returned and a replacement order through Shaw Contract Group must be placed. If you are not purchasing Shaw Contract Group carpet, we can provide assistance with recycling contacts in your area.

Scheduling Recycling
Call 800.434.9887 to begin the carpet recycling process. Your Shaw Contract Group sales representative will complete a post consumer recycling form at least two weeks prior to pick-up. A Shaw Environmental Specialist will work with you to schedule carpet recycling. Please allow 5 days to schedule transportation.

Recycling Guidelines:

• New Shaw carpet order is required
• 500 yard or $1,000 minimum
• Material must be palletized and secured
• Carpet must be free of debris
• Customer must load material onto truck
• Pick-up location must be able to accommodate a 52-foot trailer
• Additional services such as dumpsters, dropped trailers, etc. will be provided as necessary at additional cost
• These services are applicable in the continental United States and Canada only
• Requests outside the continental U.S. will be evaluated on a project by project basis
• Shaw Contract Group will provide proof of recycling documentation

For more information on Shaw’s collection network and to facilitate carpet recycling, please call 800.434.9887.

View how nylon is recycled at our Evergreen Nylon Recycling Facility.

The Evergreen Nylon Recycling Facility in Augusta Georgia is the tool that allows Shaw to convert carpet into new nylon. This eliminates landfill waste and keeps high-value materials within the production stream to make new carpet. Evergreen takes post consumer Eco Solution Q and other nylon 6 carpets from other manufacturers, and converts the carpet into caprolactam monomer, the building block of new nylon. Once complete, this recovered nylon is virtually indistinguishable from new nylon, having the same aesthetic and performance properties. The recycled content can then be inserted back into the production stream for new Shaw nylon.

• Capacity to recycle 100 million pounds each year
• Shaw's recycling capabilities represent one-third of the industry's capacity
• Cradle-to-cradle recycling reduces land filling of carpet by recovering the nylon for reuse
• Shaw's nationwide carpet recycling network sends collected carpet to Evergreen
• To recycle your carpet, call 800.434.9887 for more information

Through our environmental guarantee, EcoWorx products are reclaimed from across the globe and recycled at our facilities in Cartersville, Georgia. In the 10 years since introduction, 1,328,951 pounds of EcoWorx have been diverted from landfill and made into new EcoWorx products.

Learn more about the EcoWorx recycling process for tile and broadloom products below.

Shaw is leading the carpet industry in its efforts to identify alternative fuel sources to power its manufacturing and transportation systems. As Shaw pursues strategies to reduce its reliance on oil-based energy, it is establishing innovative alternatives such as Reclaim-to-Energy technology.

Reclaim-to-Energy turns reclaimed carpet and carpet waste into energy to power two of its carpet manufacturing facilities. The recently announced facility will be completed by the end of 2010 and is expected to convert more than 76 million pounds annually of reclaimed carpet into steam and energy for the manufacturing site. Using post-consumer carpet as an energy source is one of Shaw's strategies to reduce its use of petroleum-based energy while increasing the company's used of alternative energy sources. In fact, Shaw is committed to using 10 percent alternative energy by 2017. Reclaim-to-Energy will deliver 90 percent of the facility’s energy – or 50 thousand pounds of steam per hour.

Shaw's first gasification, alternative fuel-to-energy facility, created in partnership with Siemens Building Technologies in 2005, was the first in the carpet industry. By replacing traditional oil boilers, Shaw is converting approximately 36 million pounds of pre-consumer carpet and wood manufacturing byproducts into steam energy. The waste streams are stored in two separate silos, mixed, and then sent to the gasifier. The waste is then turned into a synthetic gas, which powers a boiler that generates 50,000 pounds of steam per hour.

Reclaim-to-Energy:

• Improves plant emissions
• Conserves natural resources
• Diverts over 76 million pounds of carpet waste from landfills annually
• Diverts approximately 6,000 tons of wood waste from landfills annually