Going Green with Corn-Based Carpet

As we all know, corn is used in the production of many edible products such as corn meal, corn starch and high fructose corn syrup, but did you know that it is also used in many non-food items?  Our Mohawk carpet rep came by the office a couple weeks ago and presented a carpet made from corn!

After doing some research, I have found that corn is used in making many things which are not edible.  For instance, corn cobs are used in the production of cosmetics (its finely-ground particles are mostly dust-free and very absorbent), and paints & varnishes (a resin developed from processing corn cobs are useful as solvents for dyes and lacquers).  Corn is even used in the production of gypsum wallboard (drywall).  Starch-containing corn flour controls the rate of water loss during the drying of the boards.

In the case of this Mohawk carpet, corn sugar is used in the production of a DuPont renewably sourced polymer called Sorona.  Corn’s naturally occurring stain-resistance is engineered into the carpet fibers, which means you never have to worry about stain protectors coming off the carpet during steam cleaning.  Producing Sorona requires 30% less energy than the production of nylon, a commonly used carpet strand.  There are other environmental incentives to using this carpet, which you can see on their  website.

To learn more about this carpet or to see some samples, please contact Amy Markle at amarkle@waldonstudio.com.

http://www.mohawkflooring.com/flooring-products/carpet/smartstrand.aspx