Across Australia, office, public spaces and schools have installed EcoSoft® carpet tiles. By installing EcoSoft®, over 700,000 discarded PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles have already been diverted from landfill and the oceans. With the help of designers, specifiers, builders and consumers, the team at Carpets Inter is changing the world as they aim to recycle one billion bottles by 2025.

As the climate change and waste crisis intensifies, the design and construction industry can do its part to reduce its impact on the environment by implementing sustainable design and choosing eco-friendly solutions that deliver quality, performance and aesthetics. Re-engineered from millions of discarded drinking water bottles, EcoSoft® is made from 80 percent post-consumer materials, plus five percent post-industrial recycled PET. By choosing EcoSoft®, designers and construction professionals can build a better future by helping break the cycle of waste production.

A New Era of Sustainable Carpet

Carpets Inter’s commitment to recycle one billion discarded plastic bottles by 2025 is complemented by its passion for making each space, both on a personal and global scale, more habitable through aesthetics, durability and comfort underfoot. Each square metre of EcoSoft® contains the equivalent of 50 recycled 600ml PET bottles. It is also 150 per cent more thermally efficient than PVC or bitumen hard-backed carpet tile, with double the level of sound absorption. EcoSoft® achieves the highest possible ECSL4 Green Star rating, and scores 100 percent Green Star points on the Mat-2 calculator.

Ushering in a new era of sustainable, high performance carpet design, EcoSoft® offers superior cushioning, resistance to fibre crush and appearance retention than any other carpet with hard backing. It also offers exceptional durability and dimensional stability, guaranteeing a long-lasting, high quality product. This solution also does not contain any harmful fibreglass, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), bitumen or polymers. Its light weight contributes to fast installation and efficient transportation. EcoSoft® is also compliant with the Carpet Institute of Australia’s requirements for Indoor Air Quality.

Global Leadership, Local Initiatives

With its groundbreaking carpet solution, Carpets Inter is taking a global leadership role in delivering positive environmental, social, and economic impacts around the world. Considering its environmental credentials and ability to create comfortable, stylish and functional floors, Australian designers and specifiers have chosen EcoSoft® for a wide variety of local projects. 

In the National Gallery of Victoria, the Great Hall utilises custom EcoSoft® Modular Ax carpet tiles containing 50,064 recycled PET bottles diverted from landfills and the oceans. Designed by A1 Office, the VISY Essendon Fields office is a sustainable facility that utilises EcoSoft® plank carpet tiles from the Breaking Waves and Flatlands range containing 54,500 recycled plastic bottles, alongside other recycled materials used for wall panels and furniture. 

Using EcoSoft® carpet tiles containing 239,500 recycled PET bottles, Melbourne’s CubeOne, designed by Watson Young Architects, is another significant achievement. On top of delivering elevated environmental outcomes, the EcoSoft® Breaking Ground carpet tile range was selected due to its aesthetic consistency with the overall building design, as well as for its performance and functionality benefits. 

The performance and aesthetic qualities of EcoSoft®, especially its outstanding acoustic insulation, were also pivotal to its specification by H2o Architects for McKinnon Secondary College. EcoSoft® not only contributes to quieter spaces for studying students, it also stands up to high traffic while delivering a distinctive blue, green and charcoal colour gradation that will be long-lasting and easy to maintain. The use of EcoSoft® carpet tiles in this project amounted to 136,000 recycled PET bottles diverted from landfills and oceans.

Designed by Mantric Architecture, the Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre in Melbourne features EcoSoft® plank carpet tiles from the Light & Shadow-Shimmer and Cirrus range. Installed by Allfloors Carpet Gallery, these carpet tiles contain 34,750 recycled PET bottles. 

As a way to contribute to ocean plastic reduction, Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium installed EcoSoft® carpet tiles – specifically, Breaking Waves Across The Sea and Blue Whale – in its Crayola Wonder Room. Containing 4,000 recycled PET bottles, these carpet tiles enhance the aquarium’s green credentials.

This small selection of projects, which in total represent over half a million recycled PET bottles diverted from landfills and oceans, highlights how Carpet Inter is more than just a manufacturer but rather a key piece in building a sustainable, healthy future for the planet.

To learn more about EcoSoft®, visit Above Left’s website at: https://www.aboveleft.com.au.