SU Partners With Tandus for Carpet Recycling

SALISBURY, MD---To most people, recycling means aluminum cans and glass bottles. At Salisbury University, the term now also refers to carpet.

When reviewing bids to re-carpet the University’s Blackwell Library recently, SU officials chose Tandus, a Georgia-based floor covering company, in part because of its sustainability initiatives.

“We received hundreds of carpet samples from various manufacturers, but were drawn to Tandus because of their highly touted recycling program and environmentally responsible products,” said Kevin Mann, director of SU’s Physical Plant.

SU Vice President of Administration and Finance Greig Mitchell praised the initiative on campus: “Our Physical Plant staff is wonderfully supportive of our green initiatives and seems always to come up with something new.”

Tandus’ closed-loop recycling system—through which old carpeting is removed and recycled into other Tandus products—has kept some 130 million pounds of carpet out of landfills and incinerators.

Tandus plans to tout its work at Salisbury University through a full-color brochure handed out during this year’s Eastern Region APPA: The Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers conference in Baltimore. The conference is expected to draw representatives from colleges and universities from Canada to Maryland.

Also on display at the conference will be a large outdoor recycling container from site furnishing contractor Victor Stanley, Inc., featuring SU’s logo. The container will be brought back to the University for use outside the new Teacher Education and Technology Center.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.