News

Shaw Plants Win California Environmental Award
Dalton, GA, Feb. 3, 2010--Four Shaw facilities have been recognized for the fifth consecutive year by the CalRecycle’s Waste Reduction Program.
Read at FloorDaily.net

Three Shaw Plants Attain Zero Landfill Status, Four Receive WRAP Award
Dalton, Ga.-based floor covering provider Shaw Industries Group Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., reports three of its facilities -- two Turftex carpet manufacturing plants in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., and a Shaw fiber extrusion facility in Clemson, S.C. -- have attained zero landfill status. The plants have redirected all waste through implementation of alternative recycling and reuse measures.

"Because the facilities were already operating at a very high level of efficiency, each plant was already sorting and recycling every possible type of waste on site and through local partners like New Green Day, RJM and Serv-Wel Disposal," said Jim Cusick, Tuftex carpet director. "The final step was finding a method of recycling or reuse for the break-room waste generated each month." That trash is now being used as an alternative fuel source to generate electric power.

The two Tuftex facilities, along with two plants in California that manufacture products for Shaw's Patcraft Designweave and Tuftex brands, have received CalRecycle's Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) award for the fifth consecutive year. The WRAP awards recognize businesses and organizations with highly successful waste to landfill reduction initiatives. The four Shaw facilities have diverted approximately 10 million pounds of waste from landfills in one year, saving $1,736,541 by decreasing landfill costs, and reducing and reusing waste, according to Tuftex Environmental and Risk Manager Bill Woyshner.

"Shaw's corporate goal is to reduce waste to landfill by 90 percent by year-end 2011, with the overall objective being zero waste to landfill for our entire organization," said Rick Ramirez, vice president of Sustainability, Shaw. "The waste reduction initiatives implemented by our California facilities continue to serve as a model of best practices for other facilities within our organization as well as for manufacturers in other industries looking to successfully reduce -- or eliminate -- their waste to landfill."

February 2, 2010