Ecostrand carpet claims to be an "eco-friendly" flooring choice for your home. So what's it made from? Polyester, a synthetic fibre not exactly known for its environmental attributes.
Ecostrand is made from a type of polyester called poly (trimethylene terephthalate) or PTT. Its claim to "greenness" is based on the use of corn to produce some of the fibre in the carpet. One retailer we talked to said the carpet was "100 percent corn" but we found that's not the case.
According to Ecostrand’s manufacturer, US-based Mohawk Industries, only 37 percent of the carpet (by weight) is made from a polymer derived from corn. Most of the fibre in the carpet is derived from petro-chemicals. Does that make it "eco-friendly"? Not in our book.
Ecostrand is distributed here by Flooring Brands and retailed through Carpet Court and The Floor Store. Flooring Brands says using corn to produce some of the fibre means the carpet requires less energy to make compared with nylon carpets (wool varieties aren't mentioned). That may mean the production process is less environmentally harmful than the process for producing nylon – but it doesn't make the carpet "eco-friendly".
We asked Flooring Brands whether Ecostrand has any independent environmental certification. Marketing Services Manager Natalie Warren told us it had the Carpet and Rug Institute's tick for low emissions of volatile organic compounds. But it doesn't have certification from a scheme which assesses the product's overall lifecycle.
We think “environmentally friendly” claims for any product are meaningless – and potentially misleading. All products have an impact on the environment, whether in their manufacture, use or disposal. Companies making "green" claims need to make sure they're accurate, unambiguous and verifiable.
More from consumer.org.nz
- Green product claims - our report into "greenwashing" claims on products
- Carpet - our guide to choosing new carpet
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The use of corn as a green product is very questionable; corn production in the US is well known to be highly subsidised, use high levels of both fertilisers and pesticides and is not a sustainable production. This is definitely 'greenwash' rather than a green product.
We recently installed an expensive, heavy duty wool carpet (60oz) for a customer on Lake Pupuke. They told us they had researched the corn carpet and the blogs they read were scathing of the product and the claims behind it.
If you want to be environmentally friendly why would you look past wool????
Tried and trusted for many, many years.
Synthetic carpets are garbage.
Guess that the claim will be made that not that much corn is required but the principle is the same.In a starving world I find the use of food growing land or edible plants for so-called eco-friendly products, of relatively luxurious application,ethically dubious
Putting aside the eco-argument, this carpet lives every bit up to the claims made for it; I was initially sceptical about the salesman's spiel, but for once I have been pleasantly surprised. It doesn't crush or mark,simply doesn't take up stains, and wears really well in even heavy-traffic areas. Would buy it again anytime, which is something I could never have said about any type of carpet in the past.
Polyester was never the best wearing carpet fibre , how much better or worse does adding corn to the blend make it?
Where is the goods labeling act that prevents consumers from being misled?
The eco, green and organic bandwagon is getting out of hand.
Sounds like the bamboo shirts.
That Rino looks like he or she has been corn fed alright, otherwise it would never made such a mess on the carpet,