Shaw Industries Inc. announced that it will be closing its nearby Ringgold, Ga., yarn plant 'in the coming weeks'--cutting 430 jobs. Shaw's plants in Valley Head, Ala., and Tifton and Chatsworth, Ga., fortunately will remain open. Commendably, the company will continue to pay its Ringgold employees for the next 60 days, easing the eventual pain at least for a while. The slackening economy is taking its toll.

KB Home announced that it has teamed up with Shaw Industries Inc. to offer only environmentally friendly recyclable carpet in all its new homes. These carpets are made of Nylon 6, the only material capable of being continuously recycled into dyeable carpet fiber. Every home that uses recycled carpet fiber saves approximately 108 cubic feet of landfill space and also prevents emissions equivalent to 1,700 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2). KB Home homebuyers can now choose between Shaw's Anso(R) nylon carpets and other Nylon 6 carpets, both of which are recyclable using a cradle-to-cradle manufacturing process that converts old carpet into a raw material that can be used to make new carpet. This practice mimics the renewal process in which natural products can be returned to the earth for decomposition.

A joint venture between DAK Americas, LLC and Shaw Industries Inc. is building the first phase a polyethylene terephthalate recycling plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The joint venture, called Clear Path Recycling, will initially supply post-consumer recycled plastic for Shaw's carpet business, and will set the groundwork for DAK to begin putting the plastic into staple fibre and PET resins. Clear Path Recycling aims to begin operations with 160m lb/year (72,600 tonnes/year) input capacity by the first quarter of 2010 before expanding the facility to handle 280m lb/year by 2012. The Clear Path Recycling facility in Fayetteville will be located at the DAK Americas Cedar Creek site and will add around 100 new jobs.