Stylish sustainable rugs

If you’re buying a new rug for your home, consider reducing your carbon footprint by buying a sustainable rug. The textiles industry is a massive contributor to carbon emissions – every year 80% of textiles bought end up in landfill. So it makes sense to buy materials that can be composted or are made from recycled materials.

Natural materials such as wool and hemp are biodegradable, so a good choice:

Coban Rugs and runners are made from untreated natural goat hair which has been combed, spun, woven and then washed. Available in a range of lovely natural shades and hues of black, white, grey and brown.

Oceans OCE04 Turquoise Rug 100% wool from £119, from Modern Rugs, who have a huge choice of eco rugs and a large variety of colours.

Calvin Klein Kerala – Chocolate Rugs CKS03. Made from the agave plant, eco-friendly sisal fibres. Also from Modern Rugs.

There are also some amazing rugs available now made from re-cycled plastic, and they are very reasonably priced. It’s great that these companies are getting plastic bottles out of our oceans and making them into something suprisingly beautiful, soft and practical. Worldwide we now use a million plastic bottles a minute – that certainly isn’t sustainable

Herringbone Rug by Weaver Green from £40

Weaver Green textiles look and feel like wool but are waterproof, mould resistant, easy to clean and hard wearing. With great environmentally friendly credentials these rugs are made by skilled adults, who are paid fairly and enjoy comfortable and fair working conditions, using weaving houses endorsed and inspected by Good Weave. GoodWeave is a charity that works to stop child labour in the carpet and rug industry in countries such as India and Nepal.

Weaver Green will take back your rugs to re-cycle when you have finished with them, so this truly is a 'cradle to cradle' product, where the end of its life is considered an important stage in the re-cycling process.  

Dove Grey Juno Rug from Weaver Green

Another interesting sustainable textile for rugs is Tencel, made from raw wood pulp. It is amazingly soft and luxurious and also very durable.

Durin rug by Stark carpets

Ted Baker - 58908 Cosmoz Teal Rugs | Modern Rugs From £499. These matt and high gloss finish axminster-woven rugs are made from a New Wool and Tencel mix. This eco-friendly fibre has a look and feel very similar to silk, whilst being very durable.

It’s hard for sustainable producers to compete with non-sustainable companies who manufacture on a larger scale. If we all try to buy more sustainable products when possible, then eventually production would increase, prices would come down, and more people could afford these products.