MeridaHome.com natural fiber rug giveaway

As we preparing to add another rugrat to our little family, I am focusing more on the off-gassing of chemicals from traditional home textiles. The issue is particularly applicable to rugs (which the babies crawl, play, and walk on) and mattresses. More about the mattresses in an upcoming post... Today is about rugs!

I was contacted recently by a representative from Merida Home, a manufacturer of eco-friendly rugs, who let me know that they are hosting a giveaway of a 4x6 sisal area rug via a contest that is being promoted almost exclusively through bloggers!

About Merida:

Our sustainability philosophy has certainly evolved since our founding more than 30 years ago, but a few simple principles have guided us each step of the way. Today, as always, we strive to:

• Offer high quality rugs made from rapidly renewable materials
• Guarantee excellent, highly competitive benefits for our employees
• Engage in community development and support causes we believe in
• Build long-lasting and mutually beneficial partnerships with suppliers around the world

These practices provide a solid foundation for us to build on our commitment to sustainability. In recent years, we have broadened our understanding of the issues affecting our planet and our communities, and have taken some exciting steps.

About the rugs:

Their rugs are made of all natural fibers, meaning there are no synthetic chemicals added that would off-gas into your home (of course, natural rubber does have it's own smell, as do the natural fibers themselves).

Merida’s large area rugs and sustainable flooring products are made from rapidly renewable materials that come from plants (sisal, jute, abaca, seagrass, coir and paper) and animals (wool). Merida has always chosen to work with natural materials due to the many advantages they have over synthetics, such as:

• Sustainable flooring products are rapidly renewable. With the use of sustainable farming practices, these fibers may be harvested over and over again without damaging the environment.
• Sustainable rugs undergo very little processing. Natural fibers generally require fewer resources than synthetics to become finished products.
• They do not contribute to climate change since they do not produce CO2. Through photosynthesis, plants actually soak up CO2 and release oxygen.
• They can be biological nutrients, if properly disposed. While many of our area rugs are backed with a natural latex derived from rubber trees, others are unbacked and may even be chopped up and used as fertilizer at the end of their useful life!

Rapidly Renewable materials and sustainable rug products are made from plants that regenerate quickly – typically they may be harvested every 10 years or less (www.usgbc.org).

Also, they look pretty awesome!

I would encourage you to visit Merida's web site, they have sooo much more information on their site about their environmental and sustainability practices, as well as how they strive to treat their worldwide employees and give back to the community through Habitat for Humanity and other charitable efforts.

Again, here is the link to enter the contest for the sisal area rug giveaway - one of the lines in the form asks for the blog that referred you, and that's me! Just enter http://www.conscientiousconfusion.com in that area!
The drawing will take place on March 14, 2011 and the winner will be announced via email.

Good luck!

* Disclosure: For everyone who enters the giveaway I also get entered into a special blogger giveaway for the another of the same rug. So my readers and I will have the same odds of winning, only my entries won't affect your odds, because the giveaways are separate...does that make sense? Other than that, I was not reimbursed or compensated in any way for this post.