A Holistic Approach to Sustainability Through Handprinting
By George Bandy, Jr.
Originally published on International Living Future Institute's Trim Tab blog
When the commercial division of the world’s largest flooring manufacturer switches its focus from “footprinting” to “handprinting” — or leaving the world in better shape than when we found it — it is not a small endeavor or one taken lightly.
We at Mohawk Group quickly realized that if we truly intended to pursue sustainability, it would require a sea change in our way of doing business, our manufacturing processes, our attitude from plant floor to boardroom, and our products. It would require committed leadership and putting to work all the innovation we had come to be so well known for. And it would mean every day, in every Mohawk facility around the globe, reinvigorating our promise to Believe in Better.
Mohawk Group’s search for an original, all-encompassing sustainability strategy began when we decided to pursue the Living Building Challenge. That decision had a huge impact on our plans to restore a mid-century modern building in Dalton, Georgia, that had been previously used as a showroom for our residential products. It became the Light Lab Design Center and the first Living Building Challenge Petal certified project in the state of Georgia and the first Petal certified restoration project in the entire southeastern United States.
