A green thread runs through everything we do. It has for decades and will continue into the future. We do our outmost to protect the environment and improve the wellbeing of people. We challenge the industry standards and rethink how aesthetics, quality and sustainability can be one. Not only in terms of materials but in everything we do, and we invite you to follow The Green Thread with us.
The Global Compact
At Ege Carpets, we never do anything half-heartedly. In 2010, we decided to endorse the UN Global Compact – the UN guidelines for working for a higher degree of social responsibility The UN Global Compact consists of 10 principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
Principles on business and human rights
Human rights are a key aspect of our focus on social responsibility, starting with our employees and extending to the people in our supply chain. We've included UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in our specifications to our suppliers to prevent child or forced labour, differential treatment and discrimination and to support freedom of association.
Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, the UN launched its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). We support many of the SDGs through targeted efforts to create sustainable carpets, good workplaces and decent conditions throughout the value chain. However, weve chosen to dedicate our focus on three of the 17 SDGs directly linked to our core business: carpets. This is how we can make the biggest difference.
Responsible consumption and production
We use Cradle to Cradle product certification as a sustainability framework for our entire business. The idea is to manufacture products that only consist of healthy materials. The products must be designed to be incorporated into a biological or technical lifecycle after use. The company must endeavour to become carbon neutral and use 100% renewable energy, and the processed wastewater must, in principle, be clean enough to drink.
Finally, the company must be assessed for compliance with internationally recognised social responsibility standards.
Ege Carpets are the only carpet manufacturer in the world that offer a 100% Cradle to Cradle Certified®.
Life below water
One of the world's major challenges is plastic waste. Plastic degrades very slowly and poses a major threat to the environment, not least to marine life. At Ege Carpets, we use large quantities of plastic waste in our carpets and packaging.
The yarn used in a large share of our carpets consists of regenerated fishing nets, used carpets and other industrial nylon waste. The felt backing on our carpet tiles consists of 100% recycled plastic bottles. 65% of our carpets are fitted with a primary backing that’s produced from recycled plastic and the same applies to the carpet tubes, which are 100% recycled plastic.
Overall, a huge amount of plastic is recycled in our products every year rather than ending up as waste in the natural environment.
Sustainable energy
Green energy is not a part of our core service. On the other hand, we work with it at such a high level that it makes a real difference. 100% of our electricity consumption is covered by investments in renewable energy, which we purchase from offshore wind farms.
We’re also in the process of ensuring that our entire natural gas consumption is covered by investments in climate credits from biogas. In this way we contribute to ensure that more renewable energy is produced.
Climate action
For many years we have worked to reduce our CO2 emissions with great results. Now we have taken our effort to a new level by committing ourselves to Science Based Targets to ensure that we contribute to keeping global warming below 1.5°C.
We will adjust our production processes in order to reduce CO2 emissions and we will replace raw materials and ensure higher waste recycling to reduce emissions. This will significantly enhance our climate action in the next years.
