Make the environmental choice in flooring

Whatever colour carpet you choose, with Belgotex it’s always green Choosing an eco-friendly floor goes way beyond just selecting a natural product that is abundantly available or biodegradable. In fact, many natural products are LESS green than their synthetic counterparts! Belgotex Floorcoverings dispel a few myths and highlight some of the factors you should consider to help you make the best environmental choice in flooring

Natural vs Synthetic
Many shoppers mistakenly assume that because a floor is made from natural fibres such as wool, bamboo or jute that it must be eco-friendly. Often the processes needed to make these items ready for sale, and keep them looking good, use more precious resources such as water and energy than synthetic materials!

Think of the washing, bleaching, dyeing and chemical treatments required for that lovely pure wool carpet. What’s more, natural materials are often treated with harmful pesticides and sprays to prevent fishmoths, house dust mites and bugs feeding on them.

Belgotex Carpets’ hi-tech SDX ranges are produced through a waterless extrusion process that gives them their stainproof, colourfast, UV- and bleach-resistant characteristics.

The synthetic nylon has its colour injected during the molten solution stage (hence the name Solution- Dyed Nylon for X-Treme Conditions) as opposed to traditional postdyeing techniques which utilise more water.

This makes the colour an intrinsic part of the molecular structure of the yarn and therefore more resistant to colour loss.

The result? A carpet that not only is easy to clean and won’t be damaged by bugs or harsh sunlight, but also uses less raw materials and precious resources in the first place.

Green Roots
Has your floor been produced by a responsible manufacturer committed to eco-friendly production practice? Belgotex Floorcoverings is one of the only local manufacturer’s to be ISO 14001 certified in line with the international standard on environmental management systems with all products bearing their Environmental Choice logo.

They spent a whopping R2,4-million to save 460 kW of power with automatic sensors that turn off lights and aircons when not in use. They have certificates for safe waste disposal and use only clean-burning coal.

The Stainproof SDX ranges including Georgian, Westminster and Royal Twist use dry manufacturing processes which reduce water, chemical and energy consumption too!

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
Can your floor or its materials be recycled or reused in other useful product at the end of its useful life? Belgotex Carpets’ Reclamation programme collects second-hand carpets which are cleaned and sent to CINDI, the charity organisation for Children in Need so they don’t land up on a landfill site.

Their new Green Underlay is made from 100% recycled yarn while downgraded yarns and fibres are used in less critical products such as rugs, bathmats, shoelaces and ropes. Creel ends and extrusion waste is recycled into injection-moulded products such as plastic tables and chairs, crates and pallets.

Belgotex also reduces the amount of postconsumer waste by developing products such as the Grimebuster Ultra rubber crumb cushion backing made from 100% recycled car tyres that diverts 20 tons of post-consumer waste from landfill sites too!

Energy efficiency
Carpets are warm in winter and cool in summer, offering 10% better thermal insulation than other floorcoverings. Not only will they add great warmth and comfort to your home, but they will significantly reduce your need for heating and electricity consumption too!

A once-over once a week with a good vacuum cleaner is all that’s required to keep them looking their best and spills and stains can be easily removed with household bleach and water in carpets bearing the Stainproof SDX or Stainproof Miracle Fibre logo.

The air we breathe
The old wives’ tale that carpets are bad for allergies and asthma couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, research has proven that hard floor surfaces have twelve times more dust and allergens in the air we breathe than carpeted areas!

This is because carpets remove these particles from the atmosphere by trapping them in their fibres and can then be vacuumed, whereas on hard, smooth surfaces they are whisked straight back into our breathing space every time we walk past.

VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) are also important contributors to the indoor air quality and research has shown that carpets are one of the lowest emitters of VOCs in the home or office environment.

What’s more, all the harmless emissions associated with that new carpet smell quickly dissipate so rest assured you’re breathing clean air. Belgotex Carpets have passed the stringent tests for VOCs with flying colours, meeting the VOC criteria for the Carpet & Rug Institute’s (CRI) Green Label, as well as both the Green Building Council of South Africa’s (GBCSA) and Australia’s (GBCA) coveted Green Labels too!

For further information, visit www.environmentalchoice.co.za or call (033) 897-7500.