FREMONT, OHIO—Crown Mats and Matting has just introduced two new lines of 100 percent recycled matting systems. The EcoPlus mats are wiper/scraper mats typically placed directly inside a facility; wiper/scraper mats are considered the second line of defense in capturing outdoor dust, oil, and moisture from shoe bottoms. The EcoStep mats are also placed inside a facility and are considered the final line of defense, capturing remaining soils and contaminants from shoes. Both systems are made from post-consumer P.E.T. (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic.
P.E.T. is often used to manufacture plastic bottles for soda, bottled water, and similar products. As useful as it is, unless it is properly recycled, it can last for years in landfills, and its manufacture consumes large amounts of oil. The National Association for P.E.T. Container Resources, Sonoma, Calif., estimates that:
• More than 3 billion plastic bottles made from P.E.T. are manufactured every year;
• More than 80 percent of these bottles end up in landfills;
• As the bottles disintegrate, they can leak toxic additives, such as phthalates, into the groundwater; and
• The manufacture of P.E.T. bottles consumes more than 1.5 million barrels of oil per year, enough to fuel 100,000 cars for one year.
According to Christopher Tricozzi, vice president of sales and marketing for Crown, converting P.E.T. bottles into matting systems not only helps protect landfills but helps us preserve natural resources as well.
“It takes about four [P.E.T.] bottles to manufacture one square foot of matting,” he says. “A six-foot by sixty-inch roll mat uses more than 1,400 bottles. This means hundreds of thousands of plastic bottles can be recycled into effective matting systems.”
Cleaning experts have long valued mats as a key component in green cleaning because they help keep soil outside facilities, reducing the need for cleaning inside.
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