| The reason for this is clear: consumers are demanding the
use of green products, but often don’t understand what green
means. Being “green” is much more than just being a rapidly
renewable material. To truly recognize a product’s “greenness,”
one must look at its entire life cycle, from cradle to grave.
It’s not a matter of simply whether raw materials can be
replaced quickly, but how those materials are used when making a
finished product, and what happens to them once their useful
life is over.
Wood flooring is the only flooring option available that is
completely sustainable. It comes from a factory called a forest,
and uses a renewable source of energy called the sun. Most
hardwood trees, the material used to make wood floors, take
40-60 years to mature, and while those trees are maturing, they
produce oxygen. Best of all, because wood floors can last
hundreds of years, the inventory planted today will be ready to
harvest long before it is needed.
Solid wood floors also use very few natural resources when
being produced, which adds to their eco-friendliness. They use
less water and energy to manufacture than other flooring
alternatives, and when they reach the end of their usefulness,
wood floors can be burned for fuel or recycled.
To learn more about the many ecological benefits of wood
floors, from cradle to grave, visit the National Wood Flooring
Association’s web site at
nwfa.org,
and click on the “What’s New” link.
The NWFA is a not-for-profit trade organization of more than
4,200 wood flooring professionals working worldwide to educate
consumers, architects, designers, and builders in the uses and
benefits of wood flooring. The NWFA can be contacted at 111
Chesterfield Industrial Blvd., Chesterfield, MO 63005, or at
800-422-4556 (USA), 800-848-8824 (Canada), or 636-519-9663
(international). |
