LAGRANGE, Ga. — Milliken Floor Covering was honored as a finalist for the Metafore Innovation Award for its TractionBack bio-based, high-friction coating, which works without the use of modular carpet adhesive and is designed to improve indoor air quality.
Metafore, a Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit, created the Innovation Awards to encourage action-oriented global leaders in business, environment and society to align business practices in ways that achieve environmental, social and financial results.
In presenting the award, Metafore cited the floor coating for reducing waste and use of raw materials as well as addressing indoor air quality, one of the top environmental health risks related to flooring. The coating is applied to modular carpet backing during manufacturing and secures tiles in place without wet adhesives, floor sealers or primers. The green chemistry improves indoor air quality by eliminating VOC offgassing. Traditional carpet tile installation generally requires spreading a thick layer of blended acrylic latex onto the sub-flooring, which may off-gas VOCs for up to several years.