Calhoun, Ga.—Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) will feature Mohawk Industries’ sustainable processes, facilities and product platforms on “Live Exploration: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” beginning tomorrow morning with a live televised broadcast that will be simultaneously streamed online.
The Atlanta-based multimedia platform has been working with Mohawk and two recycling centers in Georgia to create engaging content for a “virtual field trip” that will teach students about the significance of reducing, reusing and recycling. The episode will include a special tour through Mohawk’s Summerville, Ga., plant, as well as a closer look at different “ingredients” and finished carpeting to demonstrate the full process.
“The work Mohawk is doing was first shared with us when talking to recycling experts at the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials in Atlanta (CHaRM) and the Smyrna Recycling Center,” said Mary Anne Lane, education project manager at GPB. “Our goal with this program was to show students a beginning-to-end story of recycled materials, with a specific focus on PET plastic. We believe that seeing the possibilities of what can be created from a recycled material will serve as a strong motivator for people to think about where their waste is going and to choose to recycle it.”
The GPB Education series is aligned to Georgia standards and targets grades 3-8. Supplemental resources are also available to all grades K-12. The episode will initially air on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 10 a.m. EST on GPB stations and the GPB website. The initial broadcast includes live interactive elements, such as polls, as well as experts who will be available to answer questions submitted in advance and during the program using the hashtag #RecycleLive on Twitter. Following the broadcast, “Live Exploration: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” will be available to watch and review on-demand for free.
“Education and awareness are extremely important components in creating transformational strides in sustainability and the adoption of sustainable practices from an early age,” said Ramie Vagal, senior sustainability manager at Mohawk. “Continuum provides a very tangible, easy-to-understand example of sustainability using familiar everyday items.”
Mohawk’s patented Continuum process creates quality, durable EverStrand residential and EnviroStrand commercial carpeting using plastic bottle waste. Since the implementation of Continuum in 2013, Mohawk has become the largest recycler of plastic bottles in North America, having recycled seven billion units in 2019 alone. To date, the manufacturer has recycled more than 50 billion plastic bottles and has offset nearly 20% of recycled PET bottles in the U.S. by creating more than 936 million square feet of sustainable carpet for homes, schools, offices and other spaces, the company said.
“Often as consumers we want to make a greener choice, but sometimes those options do not exist or are not easy to come by,” GPB’s Lane. “Mohawk has done a great job by showcasing ingenuity in delivering a high-quality product while doing it in a way that is conscious of the environment. I think that really speaks volumes to one company’s ability to create, innovate, and think outside of the box.”
Continuum was also recognized this year by Fast Company on its list of the “most innovative sustainability projects of 2020,” having been named as an honoree in the magazine’s 2020 Innovation by Design Awards program.