Life Cycle Study Report

Interface Sustainable Strategies Tel: (770) 437-6970 2859 Paces Ferry Road, Suite 2000 Atlanta, GA 30339 Interface, Inc.

Project: Bentley Prince Street Optimum Barrier Project # SSG043 Date: August 17, 2010 Author: C. Hensler, ACLCA Life Cycle Assessment Certified Professional

Introduction To comply with the NSF140 Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard, a life cycle assessment was completed for the product platform Optimum Barrier and a comparison of the average High Performance product from 2000 to determine improvements since 2000 product. While many LCA studies have been done on BPS products, they have previously been used for decision making and often had the scope limited by the question at hand. This study is designed to quantify the environmental impacts of Optimum Barrier and measure the historical improvement since 2000. This LCA is intended to provide the information required for NSF140 Sustainable Carpet Standard certification process.

Scope The goal of this LCA study is to calculate the environmental impacts of Optimum Barrier products and compare them to the impacts of the standard product of 2000. The impact categories considered include Global Warming, Ozone Depletion, Acidification, Eutrophication, Photochemical Smog, Human health, Fossil Fuel Depletion, Criteria Air Pollutants, Solid Waste, and Ecological Toxicity. The study will include production, use, and end of life stages. This study is commissioned internally by the Bentley Prince Street business unit of Interface, Inc. for use in the NSF140 certification documentation. The study is performed internally by the Interface’s Corporate Sustainable Strategies group. The audience for the study includes Bentley Prince Street management and the NSF auditors. The study may also be provided to other internal and external stakeholders if Interface chooses to have a critical review performed other than the review by NSF. The study is performed according to ISO 14040 Life Cycle Assessment Principles and Framework. The products are modular carpets whose function is to provide floor covering that includes aesthetics, sound dampening, thermal insulation, slip and fall reduction, cushioning, and other characteristics commonly associated with textile floor coverings. The products are representative of the average product produced on Optimum Barrier and standard product from 2000 (High performance 2000). The functional unit is one square meter of installed modular carpet. The warranted life of the carpet is 15 years, but actual service life is expected to be seven years.

Life Cycle Inventory Interface Sustainable Strategies Tel: (770) 437-6970 2859 Paces Ferry Road, Suite 2000 Atlanta, GA 30339 Interface, Inc.

System Boundaries In keeping with the intent of an LCA, this study includes all relevant cradle-to-grave environmental information for the life cycle of one square meter of installed carpet over seven years. The system boundaries include raw material production and processing, carpet manufacturing, energy production, packaging, transportation, carpet installation, use and maintenance, as well as end-of-life. The use stage is presented as seven years. Capital goods, equipment, and human labor were excluded from the study. The choice to exclude the production of capital goods and equipment has been based on the level of difficulty to obtain relevant data on the production of these goods and equipment. Boundaries regarding the input of recycled materials are considered at the point of waste diversion. That is, the only environmental impacts considered are those that occurred after the material left the waste stream (no upstream environmental impacts are included). The use of recycled materials does not carry the original burdens associated with raw material extraction, production, and use. Allocation is not used in the study. The process is outlined in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Process diagram

Process Diagram

Raw Material Manufacturing Yarn Extrusion Process Extraction Stage

Transport

Cutting Yarn Prep. Backing Tufting Backwinding M & Packaging

Transport Use Stage

Cleaning & Installation Maintenance

End of Life Stage

Transport

Landfill

2 Interface Sustainable Strategies Tel: (770) 437-6970 2859 Paces Ferry Road, Suite 2000 Atlanta, GA 30339 Interface, Inc.

Explanation of Process Flow

Manufacturing Stage Yarn is tufted into a woven tufting primary. This “face cloth” is then coated with a latex backing including a woven polypropylene stabilization layer. This backing bonds the fibers into place and provides the structural backing for the product. Installation of the product uses standard wet acrylic based adhesive.

Use Stage The use stage includes regular vacuuming and intermittent extraction cleaning in accordance with the recommended maintenance procedures prescribed by CRI (Carpet and Rug Institute). The requirements for power, water, and detergent are included in the use stage.

End of Life Stage The end of life stage assumes landfill of the products.

Initial Cut-Off Criteria As with any LCA, cut-off criteria are established for the study to include or exclude materials, energy and emissions data. For the purposes of these studies, the criteria are as follows:  Mass – If a flow is less than 1% of the mass of the modeled product it may be excluded, providing its environmental relevance is not a concern.  Energy – If a flow is less than 1% of the cumulative energy of the model it may be excluded, providing its environmental relevance is not a concern.  Environmental relevance – If a flow meets the above criteria for exclusion, yet is thought to potentially have a significant environmental impact, it will be included. The total excluded flows are not to exceed 5% of overall life cycle.

Initial Data Quality Requirements

The data quality is good to high and representative of the specific production processes for the Optimum Barrier products. Data quality considerations fall under the following areas:  Reliability of the source regarding verified data and measurements;  Completeness and relevance regarding sampling of sites over an annual or other sufficient time period;  Temporal correlation consisting of data that has been collected or calculated within a recent time window such as three years (desired).  Geographical correlation consists of data collected specifically from the systems being studied that represent the region in which the operations exist; European LCI data is used in absence of high quality US data. Technical

correlation is a higher priority than geographic correlation. For power generation regional data was applied.  Technological correlation addressing the collection and use of data from sources that represent the raw materials production and process paths that are used by Interface operations and its suppliers. LCI from Gabi 4.3 are used to represent the raw materials where specific data is not available.  Energy grid mixes are specific to manufacturing location where possible and US grid mix from GaBi 4.3 is used for non-site specific electricity requirements.

Data for the study has been collected at the facility through engineering, cost accounting, formulation records, MSDS, and interviews with manufacturing personnel. The most recent LCIs were used even for the older product because there is higher confidence in the updated LCIs and to insure the comparisons between the two products are actual changes in impact, not changes in data quality. Data for the use stage was provided by the Carpet and Rug Institute. Landfill was assumed for end of life in both products.

Figure 2. Data Geograp Tempor hic al Input Material quality Data Source quality Yarn Productio n Virgin Nylon Nylon 6.6 granulate PE-GaBi 6,6 (PA 6.6) RER ELCD/PlasticsEurope 2006 PE International PE-GaBi Lubricants at refinery US database 2006 Titanium dioxide PE International PE-GaBi pigment US database 2006 Carbon black (C- PE-GaBi carrier) US 2006 Tufting Primary Polypropyle ne woven Polypropylene fabric granulate (PP) RER ELCD/Plastics Europe 2005

Backing Acrylic Polymethylmethacry latex late RER ELCD/Plastics Europe 2005 PE International PE-GaBi Aluminum hydroxide RER database 2006

PE International PE-GaBi Isopropanol DE database 2006 Acrylic Acid RER ELCD/Plastics Europe 2005 PE International PE-GaBi Polypropylene fibers DE database 2006 PE International PE-GaBi Limestone DE database 2006 Stain Resist Stain Resist Formula Polytetrafluorethylene PE International PE-GaBi granulate mix (PTFE) DE database 2006 Tenside (Alcohol PE International PE-GaBi ethoxy sulfate) US database 2006 Potable water from PE International PE-GaBi surface water DE database 2006 Packagin g Paper CH BUWAL 1996 Energy Thermal energy from PE International PE-GaBi natural gas US database 2006 US: Power grid mix US 2005 US: Southern California power grid mix US 2007 Installati on Stage Adhesive (wet) PE International Acrylic resin (aqueous) US database 2006 PE International Isopropanol DE database 2006 Potable water from PE International surface water DE database 2006 PE International Carbon black US database 2006 PE International Sodium hydroxide DE database 2008 Methyl methacrylate RER Plastics Europe 2008 Use Stage Detergent for Extraction Tenside (Alcohol PE International Cleaning ethoxy sulfate) US database 2006 Water for Extraction Potable water from PE International Cleaning surface water DE database 2006

Data References PE International & GaBi http://www.pe-international.com/consulting/product- sustainability/life-cycle-assessment/ BUWAL - http://www.bafu.admin.ch/dokumentation/index.html?lang=de Plastics Europe - http://www.plasticseurope.org/Content/Default.asp?PageID=1272 ELCD - "European Reference Life Cycle Data System" (ELCD) http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/datasetCategories.vm

LCIA Calculation Procedures The life cycle inventory data was input into the GaBi software program (http://www.gabi-software.com/). The software converts all inputs and outputs within the LCI into TRACI (The Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other environmental impacts) developed by the US EPA(http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/std/sab/traci/). The calculations for each impact category are described in TRACI. Two examples of the type of calculation used are described below (Ozone Depletion Potential and Global Warming Potential.) For full information on the calculations for each impact category see the EPA TRACI web site.

Ozone Depletion Index = iei x ODP i Where eI= emission i per functional unit OPD = Ozone Depletion Potential

Global Warming Index = 1eI x GWP i Where ei= emission i per functional unit

GWPi = Global Warming Potential

Life Cycle Impact Assessment

The potential impacts are presented for the manufacture, installation, use, and recycling of the carpet. The use stage is for seven years of carpet life.

Figure 3. The potential impacts for one square meter of carpet Optimum High Units Barrier Performan Impact Category ce 2000 TRACI, Global Warming Air 20.05 22.46 kg CO2-Equiv. kg CFC 11- 7.16 x 10-7 6.77 x 10-7 TRACI, Ozone Depletion Air Equiv. TRACI, Acidification Air 4.39 4.06 mol H+ Equiv. TRACI, Eutrophication Water & Air 0.0207 0.0214 kg N-Equiv. TRACI, Smog Air 8.95 x 10-7 1.19 x 10-6 kg NOx-Equiv. Fossil Fuel Depletion 291.73 342.59 MJ TRACI Criteria Air Pollutants - 0.029 0.027 kg PM2,5 –

particulates Equiv. kg 2,4 D – TRACI Ecotoxicity 0.27 0.34 Equiv. Solid Waste 10.76 12.57 kg kg Toluene – TRACI Human Health 26.71 21.42 Equiv.

Figure 4. Life cycle stages as a percentage of total impacts Optimum Barrier

Relative Life Cycle Stage Impacts Optimum Barrier

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% End of Life 50% Use 40% Manufacturing 30% 20% 10% 0%

Figure 5. Life cycle stages as a percentage of total impacts average High Performance 2000 product

Relative Life Cycle Stage Impacts High Performance 2000

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% End of Life 50% Use 40% Manufacturing 30% 20% 10% 0%

Figure 6. Relative impact of products.

Optimum Barrier Impacts Relative to High Performance 2000

80% High Performance 2000 60% Optimum Barrier

Figure 7. Manufacturing Stage relative impacts

Manufacturing Stage Relative Impacts

Yarn Backing Process Energy Installation Other Transport

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Figure 8. Reduction of impacts from High Performance 2000 to Optimum Barrier Impact Category Reduction Global Warming 11% Ozone Depletion -6% Acidification -8% Eutrophication 4% Smog 25% Fossil Fuel Deletion 15% Criteria Air Pollutants -8% Ecotox 21% Solid Waste 14% Human Health -25%

Interpretation As is commonly the case with carpet LCA, the majority of the environmental impacts in both products occur during the extraction of raw materials and processing included in the manufacturing stage (Figures 4 & 5). Within the manufacturing stage nylon yarn contributes over 57% to the Global Warming Potential (Figure 7). The use stage is represented in this report for seven years of maintenance and is a significant

9 Interface Sustainable Strategies Tel: (770) 437-6970 2859 Paces Ferry Road, Suite 2000 Atlanta, GA 30339 Interface, Inc. contributor to the impacts. This is due to the electricity usage for regular vacuuming and intermittent extraction cleaning. While Interface provides recycling, over 80% of carpet in the US is sent to landfill, so the appropriate LCA end of life choice is landfill. Reduction in impacts was seen in all but four categories (Ozone Depletion, Acidification, Criteria Air Pollutants, and Human Health).

Further interpretation of these results should consider the scope and boundaries that were chosen for the study. While some value judgments were avoided by avoiding allocation and weighting, the acceptance of data quality and excluded data were professional choices made by the LCA practioner. The ACLCA certified practioner who performed the study was Connie Hensler, Director of Corporate LCA Programs at Interface, Inc.