Mohawk takes 3rd in Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings

Home Textiles Today Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 5/1/2012 4:19:53 PM

Dalton, Ga. - Mohawk Industries has earned yet another feather in its eco-friendly cap, moving up two notches from last year on the Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings to third place among Georgia-based companies for sustainable practices in the region.

To boot, Mohawk leads the flooring industry in sustainability on this ranking for the second consecutive year.

"This ranking is a true testament to the hard work and determination of each one of our associates," said Bill Kilbride, chief sustainability officer for Mohawk. "We have outlined very aggressive corporate sustainability goals, and the entire Mohawk team remains steadfast in their commitment to help us achieve them. I am incredibly proud of their efforts and delighted that the 2012 Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings reflect our yearly progress in becoming a more sustainable company."

The 2012 Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings were announced during a ceremony at Atlanta's Carter Center on May 1. UPS and Coca-Cola ranked first and second places, respectively.

The annual rankings evaluate companies on a variety of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, and it is the only ranking of companies headquartered in the Southeast on these issues.

"Mohawk had a very impressive year as a sustainability leader," said Stephanie Armistead, co-founder of the Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings. "Mohawk is an example of the results a company can expect when they commit the level of innovation and resources Mohawk has to advancing sustainability. Their leadership is due to many factors and their advancement in the rankings this year was evident across all categories of performance."

Mohawk said it employs "a three-pronged sustainability strategy, which focuses on the company's processes, products and people." Each year, the company diverts up to three billion pounds of waste material from landfills, it added, and more than 500 Mohawk products contain some type of recycled material, including the EverStrand family of carpets, which feature fiber made from recycled plastic beverage bottles. Mohawk said it also continues to "aggressively pursue a 25% intensity reduction" in energy consumption, greenhouse gases, water use and landfill waste by the year 2020.