LOS ANGELES—Bentley Prince Street has taken another step in its Mission Zero sustainability commitment through a unique partnership with the Asset Network for Education Worldwide (ANEW) Foundation, a charitable 501 (c)(3) organization that collects and repurposes surplus furniture, fixtures and equipment for groups in need. Their goal? Create a program that unites environmental sustainability with social responsibility—keeping carpet out of overflowing landfills while, at the same time, helping community learning programs that can benefit from repurposed carpet.
Through this partnership, Bentley Prince Street will work with ANEW to identify and assess surplus carpet—carpet that for one reason or another companies want to replace. The team will then determine whether the life of the carpet can be extended by repurposing it in other settings, such as nonprofits, community centers, learning programs and public agencies. If not, Bentley Prince Street will ensure the carpet is recycled through its ReEntry program.
The program is a win-win from every perspective. Carpet is kept out of landfills. Companies looking to replace their carpet can avoid costly landfill disposal fees, receive tax benefits as a charitable donation and help protect the environment. Members in the community can upgrade their learning and business environments with the donated surplus carpeting. In addition, ANEW partners with Chrysalis, a nonprofit organization providing labor opportunities for the disadvantaged and formerly homeless.
Triple Bottom Line Approach
“Our ultimate goal is to divert all carpet products from our landfills, and this partnership touches virtually every aspect of our holistic sustainability philosophy: Environmental, social and economic,” says Anthony Minite, President of Bentley Prince Street Inc. “Working with ANEW, we now have another alternative to dumping surplus carpet in our landfills—either through re-use or recycling. At the same time, we’re helping learning programs that are so vital to our communities. We hope others in our industry will try new ideas like this partnership to help drive the marketplace toward more environmentally and socially conscious practices.”
The partnership is designed to attract companies to donate their old carpet for the harvesting and designing of next generation sustainable innovations.
“It comes down to doing what’s right with what’s left,” says Rose Tourje, founder and President of ANEW. “The industry is responding with great need to alternatives in the field of surplus liquidation—alternatives we are delivering. We are humbled to partner with a visionary like Anthony Minite and his entire team at Bentley Prince Street. It is our hope to help deliver industry change, meeting the Mission Zero goal by year 2020, just 13 years away.”
The ReEntry program is one of the industry’s most aggressive, responsible and successful carpet recycling initiatives. Since its creation in 1995, the ReEntry program has diverted millions of pounds of material from landfills. Through the program’s partnership with fiber producer INVISTA, Bentley Prince Street will take back any broadloom or modular carpet product from any commercial manufacturer after its useful life and find the most environmentally responsible solution for reclamation, including repurposing into another setting, recycling into new products or using for energy capture and conversion to create steam or electricity. The program also takes into account the cost of energy and fuel needed to reclaim the carpet to ensure the most environmentally conscious solution.
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