PORTLAND, Ore. — Move over PDX carpet. There's another carpet in town that is creating quite a buzz.
It's the old dated carpet being torn out of the Oregon Convention Center as part of a $39 million renovation project.
But you won't be able to purchase a piece of it or find it made into furniture. It is, however, being used for a good cause.
110 tons of the old carpet will be recycled and re-purposed. The padding will by remade into new carpet padding. And the carpet itself will be headed to our neighbors up north to help keep the Puget Sound cleaner and safer.
"The color layer that's woven that will be broken down and used in Puget Sound to filter waste that comes out of cargo ships, the ballast, the waste water... they'll be used to separate oils or maybe invasive species from that water as that water is being pumped into the Puget Sound," explained executive director Craig Stroud.
The new carpet going in is made out of recycled materials and is recyclable too.
Also, as part of its renovation, the convention center is putting in high-tech lighting that actually senses natural daylight and automatically dims, which will dramatically cut down on energy use.
And all this is on top of the 6,500 solar panels on the roof which generate enough electricity to power about 1,500 homes every year.
The renovation project is being done in phases. It's expected to finish in October.