Amy Rush-Imber, FCW Editor in Chief
First, the
GreenStep environmental awards program is certainly the highlight. It
was launched 8 years ago to recognize, promote and honor the
organizations and individuals in the flooring industry for their
stewardship and accomplishments in the area of sustainability.
Often these
initiatives and great investments aren’t customer-facing so this
program gives these efforts the credit they deserve. And it serves to
communicate the great achievements this industry has made and continues
to make.
Over the
years, we’ve recognized the efforts of more than 20 different companies
or divisions — both large and small. It’s a program we are quite proud
of here at FCW because, like all of
our efforts, this awards program stands on strong legs. The voting is
done by the industry’s associations balancing out any product segment
bias and allowing for deeper understanding of an effort should it be
necessary. FCW simply runs the
venerable program but it is the industry’s award. So thank you to the
judges for giving your time and knowledge.
Indeed,
this industry has a lot to be proud of when it comes to sustainability.
While there are many different certification programs that help guide
the efforts, many of the initiatives are taken not because of mandates
but because it simply is the right thing to do.
Goals are
set and met each year and our industry’s leaders produce sustainability
reports annually that are open for all to see and read. That alone is a
significant undertaking. But the definition of sustainability has
broadened as well to include not just the things we have traditionally
defined as environmental — recycling, water reduction, energy usage —
but the people working for the company and living in the communities in
which the company produces.
Kudos to
the winners but also to all those that entered. The efforts are
impressive and are worthy of recognition. To read all of the GreenStep
entries in full, see FCW’s March 28, 2016 issue or visit FCW1.com.
We also
take this time away from our corporate offices to talk about our
business, identifying both our successes and where we want to do better.
This has been a big year for our nearly 65 year old publication. Our
new look is now five months in — thank you for your feedback! And our
new website was successfully launched last month. We are ready for the
future!
Our team is committed not just to FCW
but to our readers. We’ve spent time this summer with as many folks as
we could because our planning isn’t just centered on meeting our own
goals but meeting yours as well.