The world’s first soy carpet has been produced by an Australian company, Customweave. Frank Ricco, the developer of a luxury line of rugs and carpets, describes the texture as a combination of cashmere, velvet and alpaca. Like most other products made with soy, the fiber comes from the “waste” left after processing soy beans. China produces about 14 million tonnes of soy beans a year. Once the soy meal and oil is extracted, the leftover parts of the plant have traditionally been fed to farm animals or sent to landfill.

With an estimated 215 million tonnes of beans harvested each year around the world, that’s a lot of waste.

About 14 years ago, a Shanghai businessman and scientist, Li Guanqi, realised the potential for turning this by-product into fibre. It took more than a decade for Li to perfect the process but eventually he created a fibre strong enough to be woven into cloth.

Soy floor coverings are particularly suitable for people with respiratory problems or skin allergies. The material has also done well in durability tests.

However, at about $650 a square metre, Soy Luxe is an up-market, niche product – something that may change in the near future. “It’s a matter of saying, rather than bring it to market as a premium product, maybe we should bring it in at a level more comparable comparable to high-quality wool,” Ricco says.

Via: Treehugger and The Sydney Morning Herald

There’s more information about the carpet on the Australian Design Awards web site.

Wool carpeting is excellent: it’s durable, stain resistant, and completely biodegradable. It has a high initial cost, but the quality of the material justifies the investment.

Nature’s Carpet offers all wool carpets. They only buy wool clipped from sheep raised where no herbicides or pesticides are used. The fiber is tested regularly for purity. The wool is washed, spun and made into carpet without the use of any synthetic chemicals. No moth proofing is used.

Two mills in Denmark and one in Australia produce the carpets during special runs. In preparation, the factories remove the chemicals they ordinarily use (primarily synthetic latex) and scrub away any residue. Nature’s Carpet uses only genuine, natural latex to bind the wool face to natural jute backing. The price is $37.69 – $64.29 per square yard.

Available from: Environmental Home Center.

These accents rugs are made with 100% Tibetan wool. The wool is said to be extra soft due to lanolin that Tibetan sheep produce to stay warm, and is hand-knotted with a Tibetan weave. Available from Bed, Bath and Beyond for $59.99-$199.

Lees Carpets is introducing a new line of eco-friendly carpets called 2Faced, which were recently chosen as product of the month by Architectural Record. 2Faced carpets are tufted in such as way that they appear to change colors, depending on your perspective (see photo above).

The carpets come in three patterns: “I-Spy”, “Alter Ego” and “Still Moving”. They are certified as an Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP) — making use of Duracolor and Unibond backing (more details about these techologies here).

Via Inhabitat

This Kona rug from Crate & Barrel is made from links of coconut wood (palmwood) and is harvested from palms that no longer bear fruit. The price ranges from $49 to $599.

They also have other sustainable jute and sisal rugs. Thanks to Treehugger for the heads up.

Earthweave is wool carpeting constructed entirely of natural materials.

The wool is raw and naturally pigmented. It is held in place with hemp or cotton (not the usual polyproylene). No chemical bonds, dyes and other agents are used.

The backings of carpets are usually the worst kind of air quality offenders. Earthweave backing is made from jute, and is held in place using a natural rubber-based adhesive.

Prices range around $36-41 per square yard.

Home Page: Earthweave

Available from: Straw Sticks & Bricks or Ylana’s Market

These rugs are 95% virgin wool (a renewable resource), and reportedly very durable and colorfast. They are handwoven using flat braids by Capel in North Carolina. The cost is $80 to $570. They are available in nine colors and seven different sizes.

Capel also makes other carpets woven from renewable material.

Available from: L.L. Bean

Lead from: Apartment Therapy

“Interface FLOR” carpet tiles are made from renewable materials that can recycled easily.

They are also built to be modular: if an accident happens, you can clean them in the sink put them back on the floor. They are held down by “low tack” adhesive dots. You can also create new designs by rearranging the tiles.

Some FLOR carpet tiles are made from 100% renewable Inego™ fibers, such as the Spring Plantings series. Ingeo™, which is derived from the stalks and leaves of corn, is the first man-made fiber from 100 percent annually renewable resources. This carpet requires 20 to 60 percent fewer fossil fuel resources and virtually no water to produce.

They can be replaced when they become stained or worn and returned to Interface for recycling or composted in a commercial composting facility. The carpet contains no formaldehyde or SBR latex, which contributes to that “new carpet smell.”

More information: InterfaceFLOR