Shaw Industries Publishes 2019 Sustainability Report, Advances sustain[HUMAN]ability Efforts

Staff Report

Tuesday, August 4th, 2020

Shaw Industries Group, Inc. (Shaw) has released its eleventh annual sustainability report. The 2019 corporate sustainability report focuses on the company’s people-centric approach to sustainability: sustain[HUMAN]abilityTM.

The report highlights Shaw’s achievements related to Cradle to Cradle CertifiedTM products, material health assessment, carbon footprint reduction and numerous other interconnected aspects of sustainability. It does so while acknowledging the unprecedented circumstances of 2020 that will continue to shape how the company strives to create a better future for its associates, customers, and communities.

“It’s impossible to reflect on 2019 without acknowledging the unprecedented circumstances we’ve each faced personally and professionally thus far in 2020. A global pandemic, cries for racial justice that spread throughout the world, and economic volatility are just three examples,” notes Susan Farris, vice president of corporate communications and sustainability at Shaw. “As I reflect on how to reconcile the significant progress we made as a company in 2019 with the Herculean challenges that we and the world have faced in 2020, there are two common threads: people and connectivity.”

Those themes of people and connectivity underpin the key achievements highlighted in this year’s report including:

  • Almost 90 percent of the products the company manufactures are Cradle to Cradle CertifiedTM.

  • Shaw assessed more than 1.6 billion pounds of raw material used in its operations for material health in 2019.

  • The company has reduced its carbon footprint by more than 50 percent since 2010.

  • Shaw has reclaimed and recycled almost 1 billion pounds of carpet since 2006.

  • The company provided more than 1.1 million training hours to its associates and customers in 2019.

  • Shaw and its associates contributed more than $6.7 million to nonprofit / philanthropic organizations in 2019.

“The incredible efforts by our teams are continuing to drive innovation. We strive for a world-class customer experience amid a remarkable time of change. And we are rapidly adapting to the next normal and anticipating future shifts,” shared Vance Bell, chairman and CEO at Shaw. “Our investments in people and processes in 2019 lay a solid foundation for 2020 and beyond.”

To read Shaw’s 2019 Sustainability Report, visit: https://shawinc.com/2019sustainabilityreport.