Green (8)
2019 Sustainability Awards
November 7 - The Star Casino, Sydney
Over 150 projects, people and products were nominated for this year’s ‘Sustainability Awards’ organized by Architecture & Design and In Design Media Asia Pacific Magazine. All nominees exhibited a high caliber of design that choosing the finalists was an arduous task even for the highly experienced jury. After careful and deliberate consideration, Carpets Inter’s EcoSoft® back modular Carpet tile manufactured from recycled Plastic Bottles was selected as the unanimous winner of the ‘Waste Elimination’ category. The award recognizes Carpet Inter and Above Left’s continued efforts to provide Australia’s leading Architects and Interior Design practices with fit for purpose sustainable product solutions, suitable for WELL Buildings in many appealing styles.
Our participation on the panel discussions regarding Construction Waste and its disposal with other leading Sustainability experts highlighted how CI has lead the industry in recycling plastic waste towards our mission of repurposing One Billion PET plastic bottles by 2025... and how we are donating proceeds of EcoSoft backed tile sales to the Ocean Clean-up program.
“If only more suppliers to the built environment could emulate this concept, then a range of environmental problems would quickly and easily be overcome”
Branko Miletic - Editor | Architecture & Design
2019 Sustainability Awards
November 7 - The Star Casino, Sydney
Over 150 projects, people and products were nominated for this year’s ‘Sustainability Awards’ organized by Architecture & Design and In Design Media Asia Pacific Magazine. All nominees exhibited a high caliber of design that choosing the finalists was an arduous task even for the highly experienced jury. After careful and deliberate consideration, Carpets Inter’s EcoSoft® back modular Carpet tile manufactured from recycled Plastic Bottles was selected as the unanimous winner of the ‘Waste Elimination’ category. The award recognizes Carpet Inter and Above Left’s continued efforts to provide Australia’s leading Architects and Interior Design practices with fit for purpose sustainable product solutions, suitable for WELL Buildings in many appealing styles.
Our participation on the panel discussions regarding Construction Waste and its disposal with other leading Sustainability experts highlighted how CI has lead the industry in recycling plastic waste towards our mission of repurposing One Billion PET plastic bottles by 2025... and how we are donating proceeds of EcoSoft backed tile sales to the Ocean Clean-up program.
“If only more suppliers to the built environment could emulate this concept, then a range of environmental problems would quickly and easily be overcome”
Branko Miletic - Editor | Architecture & Design
It all started when…
At Carpets Inter, we create modular carpet that does more than just make the world more beautiful; it makes it more livable. We do this with products that meet stringent indoor air-quality needs, are safe to manufacture and utilize and incorporate recycled materials wherever feasible including our unique EcoSoft® backing fabricated from millions of recycled plastic bottles. Our commitment to ecological sustainability extends beyond our product. We practice it in everything we do – from manufacturing facilities that maintain the highest environmental standards, to reducing our carbon footprint in every facet of our global business.
https://www.aboveleft.com.au/content/green#sigProId02fa718e52
Carpets Inter factory, Pathumthani, Thailand
When you send positive energy into the world, you can expect it back.
That’s why we are industry leaders in innovating our manufacturing processes to achieve better quality products and create less waste. When you send positive energy into the world, you can expect it back.
Above Left and Carpets Inter are proud to be leaders in the Reuse, Recycle, and Reduce movement.
Outlined below is one of the many Sustainable initiatives which are undertaking by Above Left and Carpets Inter to achieve Zero Landfill.
The below graph shows the zero process waste achievement. 14% Reduction of Landfill Waste per square meter since 2006. Approximately 0.03 kg per square meter production.
Zero process waste to Landfill since July 2009.
Transparency and accountability are vital when it comes to ensuring accurate environmental claims.
Above Left clearly recognises the need to maintain confidence and trust among customers and stakeholders. This primarily relies on supplying quality products and services that can boast independently certified environmental claims.
It starts with how we source and specify recycled content materials such as EcoSoft®, and extends to our management systems at the production stage. We also ensure that our finished products are independently certified to deliver maximum Green Star points, which will benefit your overall project.
The scientific rigour underpinning our various certifications is not only globally relevant, it is also meaningful to specifiers, customers and end-users. For example, our products are manufactured under programs that include Environmental Management Systems certified to ISO14001. In addition, a number of our products have achieved platinum certification to NSF/ANSI 140 in the US. This highly regarded scheme is widely known as one of the most robust certification programs and includes attention to social and environmental objectives.
In the Australian context, Above Left has achieved environmental certification for key products under the Environmental Certification Scheme administered by the Carpet Institute of Australia (CIAL). Importantly, this means that our products are recognised under Green Star and score maximum credits.
Contact Above Left for detailed documentation covering our respective certifications related to GBCA Green Star, NSF/ANSI and ISO.
You can also view environmental certifications online.
(click images below to see a larger verion)
rEcover® is Above Left’s Product Stewardship solution. It is designed to deal with modular carpet tiles post-customer. Typically this means we extend product life through reuse and achieving second-life functionality. In partnership with our Product Stewardship delivery partner,Egans Asset Management, we offer customers immediate landfill diversion and maximum resource recovery and reutilisation.
There are 2 parts to the program:
1. rEcover:
- We take back our products at the end of their first life.
2. rEcover NOW:
- When you specify Carpets Inter carpet tile for your refurbishment we may be able to take back the uplifted uncontaminated carpet tiles regardless of manufacturer.
- This offer goes above and beyond the ECS4 and industry requirements.
- This offer may come at no additional cost to you our client.
- The take back product would be assessed for repurposing and processing via Egan’s stewardship program of REUSE – RESELL – RECYCLE.
Contact Above Left for more information regarding how this program may be able to assist.
Making our program the industry leader.
Minimising environmental impacts from cradle to grave is an essential activity for the flooring industry as the churn rate and consumption of floor coverings continues to increase.
Above Left is committed to product life cycle management, and the principles of Extended Producer Responsibility and Product Stewardship. Most of all we are serious about practical solutions that are market-ready and meet Green Star requirements.
The rEcover® solution is specifically designed to comply with the Environmental Certification Scheme Level 4, as administered by the Carpet Institute of Australia. Level 4 products receive maximum points in the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star materials calculator.
Contact Above Left for more information about our practical and market-ready Product Stewardship solutions.
By recycling over one billion plastic bottles in creating our products, we see ourselves as more than just a DISTRIBUTOR, but a protector of our planet’s well-being.
The creation of low impact interiors that are functional and desirable, requires good design and environmentally preferable products. This can translate into greater productivity, increased return on investment and improved tenancy retention. It can also result in high levels of waste avoidance, reuse and materials recovery.
Above Left recognises the broader social, environmental and economic significance of green buildings, as well as the need to ensure that all flooring products demonstrate positive sustainability performance across the product life cycle. Most of all we understand customer requirements and how to exceed expectations when it comes to low impact flooring solutions.
FERTILIZER FOR FOOD PRODUCTION & CEMENT FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Factory by-products are re-purposed in two environmentally significant processes. Firstly, the sediment from the recycled water treatment plant is re-used as an ingredient to create Organic Fertilizer for domestic agriculture to grow rice, pineapple and other food crops, as well as in the planting of trees for CO2 offsets. In addition, our modular offcuts are re-used as bio-fuel in the kilns of Thailand’s main cement factory to provide recycled materials for urban development.
ECO INNOVATION
By connecting good design, environmental quality and life cycle thinking, Above Left is well advanced in the flooring business.
We value performance and customer satisfaction, and we strive to exceed expectations when it comes to environmental credentials. Our policies, products and services reflect informed environmental awareness and action, noting that we are design-driven. This provides an unmatched opportunity to develop, manufacture and distribute environmentally improved flooring products in collaboration with our suppliers, customers and projects partners.
Above Left recognises the need to ensure that all fixtures, fittings, furniture and floor coverings, can demonstrate high levels of environmental performance across the product life cycle. Innovation lies at the core of such performance, and together with our suppliers we are continually expanding our sustainability initiatives. From Design for Sustainability and eco-innovation, through to cleaner production, carbon reduction and Product Stewardship, Above Left meets the expectations of environmentally aware designers, architects and specifiers.
EcoSoft® – our post-consumer recycled PET carpet tile backing, is pure testament of how we have successfully connected environmental performance, underfoot comfort and commercial benefit. The EcoSoft® backing system is made from a combination of 80% post-consumer recycled PET and 5-10% post industrial recycled PET … all sourced from discarded drink bottles. EcoSoft® is free of PVC and bitumen, has a low-VOC rating, and is compliant to rigorous indoor air quality standards within the Carpet Institute’s Environmental Certification Scheme.
