Sometimes the best ideas for the environment
are the simplest ones…
Organic Broadloom Carpet at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, naturally!
What is “Green”, really?
We have said that the word green has as many different “shades” as the color green has! What we mean by that is, these days everyone seems to have their own understanding, (much of which is a vague notion), of the term “green”.
When we purchased Sahara Carpet Mills, we began our effort to make a carpet that was friendly to those with chemical sensitivities. That was our definition of green carpet in 1990. After reading the label on the “latex” we were using, we realized we could do a lot more to make this component more natural and off we went to Malaysia to arrange to purchase pure/natural latex without the butadiene, styene, etc.
organic broadloom carpet starts with sustainable raw sheep wool
We also began to use more woolen yarns of natural, un-dyed coloration. With these cursory efforts some were taking note and we were listed in a book entitled “Your Natural Home” along with a few other manufacturers. The author, Paul Bierman-Lytle, was somewhat of a godfather in the green building movement.
Corniche was also selected to provide carpet for the rooms of the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, CA. The P.R.I. was/is one of the most environmentally responsible facilities built in the U.S.
Most recently, the carpets we have supplied for the Post Ranch Inn have been made of totally organic materials. We sent some of our carpet to a composting facility and it was found to be and certified as a bio-degradable material. To our knowledge, Corniche is the only U.S. manufacturer producing a certified, biodegradable carpet. The only facility we know of that composts its own carpet, is the Post Ranch Inn.
tapping latex from a rubber tree
So today, we boast that the carpet we make is “as green as it gets!” Our materials are totally sustainable, non toxic, and the post consumption disposition is more efficient and superior to “re-cycling”. In addition, carpets made of woolen yarns are much easier to maintain, act as a filter to many airborne contaminates such as formaldehyde, take less and less toxic cleaners to maintain, and act as a temperature insulator saving both heat and cooling costs.
Just a few words more about woolen carpets. Besides the environmental benefits of carpet not made from oil, may we just add a reminder about the aesthetic benefits as well?
There is not a man-made chemical fiber produced that has the resilience of wool. Wool fibers have a natural, built in “spring” to them, giving wool carpets a vastly superior texture retention to the man made fibers/carpets.
carpet that can be composted
Another way of saying this is that carpets made from wool will look a lot more like what was purchased in the years to come. It looks better longer! Secondly, woolen carpets have the most natural luster and color broadcast of any carpet fiber. The richness of wool is sometimes overlooked in the initial viewing of a small carpet sample, but most certainly is apparent after installation.
