Custom Entrance Mats That Are Environmentally Friendly

PRLog (Press Release) – Feb 14, 2009 –

Custom Entrance mats made of coco fiber are back. In today's world where more people are looking at products that will save our planet all the synthetic mats in front of stores are having a negative impact on the environmentally conscious consumer.

 

Coco mats were really popular back when I was a kid growing up in San Francisco.  You would see it everywhere from your front door to the floor mats used in all the luxury cars.  It lost some popularity with the advent of synthetic material like nylon and polypropylene.  But have you ever wondered what happens to all those custom entrance mats that you see in front of all those stores and hotels that you visit.  It sure looks pretty but after they get worn out by foot traffic these mats are replaced with new ones every year and the old mats end up in a landfill.  

 

In 2008, 20 million tons of these polymers were discarded to landfills.  Efforts to ban polymers from landfills has become a losing cause.  The only way to reduce the amount of waste is if we as consumers educate these establishments that are purchasing and then discarding these products without any idea of the impact.  These establishments need to switch to environmentally friendly mats made of coir fiber that are 100% natural and bio-degradable.  

 

Coir is a type of fiber that is extracted from the husk of the coconut.  The fibrous husks are beaten to separate out the long fibres and then spun into yarn.  The yarn is then woven or bonded to a recycled rubber backing to produce coir mats or coco mats.  The advantage of using coir in doormats is that it is extremely functional.  It scrapes the dirt of your shoe soles like no other product out there and requires very little maintenance.  If it gets dirty, simply lift it up and beat it down or hose it off and you are back in business.

 

Doing a little bit of research online (searched for the words 'coco mats' and 'custom logo coco doormats'), I was able to find several online stores that provided a variety of custom doormats made of coir fiber - http://www.cocomatsnmore.com and http://www.customlogodoormats.com seemed to be the most popular and had the lowest prices. These two sites had a variety of plain and pre-designed coco mats in all shapes and sizes. Some of their coco mats were as large as 40 ft long!  They even had the ability to create custom doormats by dyeing your artwork onto the coir mats in almost any size that you wanted.  

 

I have always been a big fan of the plain, old fashioned coco mat and I hope they come back in style for the sake of our planet.  For all those people considering custom doormats for your storefront - take a look at the coco mat and avoid those synthetic mats.  You might even save yourself some money by doing so!

 

India likely to get more coir export orders from US

14 Feb 2009, 1918 hrs IST, PTI

India likely to get more coir export orders from US

 

KOCHI: India's participation at the ongoing International Erosion Control Association (IECA) conference and its connected exhibition at Reno 

Navada, US, is likely to attract more export orders from US and IECA member countries, according to Coir Board Chairman V S Vijayaraghavan.

 

The growing global awareness on the need to use natural fibre products was bound to find increasing demand for environment-friendly products like coir geotextiles for various applications especially in erosion control, storm water management, natural resource protection, ground and roof cover, cycle path and for restoration of vegetation in arid and rocky lands, a board release quoting Vijayaraghavan, who is attending the conference, said.

 

Field trials conducted in India had established the durablity of geotextiles in various end uses like road and embankment protection in rural areas. Its low cost applications also made coir products more popular, he said.

 

Being held in the context of the International Year of Natural Fibre, the IECA conference assumed importance as India was aiming at increasing its geotextile product exports from the existing two per cent to 5-10 per cent at the prevailing 1,400 million square metre US market in the coming years.

 

The IECA is represented by about 3,500 members, including its Indian chapter. India's competitiors in this field included Sri Lanka, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea and China.

 

Coir Research Institute Director, Dr U S Sarma, accompanying Vijayaraghavan, made a technical presentation on 'Coir based Soil Less Natural Grass Instant lawn.

 

The chairman would also be participating in the four-day CAFLEX 2009 fair in Moscow from Feb. 09