While carpets and rugs can be responsibly purchased and installed, the most eco-friendly flooring options are bamboo, hardwoods, linoleum, marmoleum, and cork. They are all relatively easy to maintain. They are also good choices for allergy sufferers. With bamboo, hardwoods, linoleum and cork, there is no place for, pollens, mold, mildew, dust, etc. to hide.

Carpet
SmartStrand® with DuPont™ Sorona® renewably sourced polymer contains ingredients made from corn sugar - 37% of renewable resource. These renewably sourced ingredients replace ingredients that traditionally were derived from petroleum - a limited resource. Every seven yards of SmartStrand® with DuPont™ Sorona® renewably sourced polymer saves the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline.

EverStrand™ carpet fiber, made using PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is extruded from recycled plastic bottles, containing 100 percent post-consumer recycled content. PET bottles are sorted, ground into fine chips, and then cleaned. These chips are then melted and extruded into fiber and spun into carpet yarn. On average, 30 plastic bottles are recycled to make one square yard of EverStrand.

At the end of its useful life, carpets constructed of Nylon 6 are recycled back into the raw materials and used again to make new carpets.

Hardwood floors
Eco-friendly hardwood floorings are produced from woods that are grown in forests where planting exceeds felling, where the trees are regenerated, and biodiversity is conserved. It can also be produced from reclaimed hardwood floors. Reclaimed hardwood floorings are made with timbers recycled from old structures, such as schoolhouses, libraries, etc. There are a number of companies who buy the wood that would otherwise end up in a junkyard and refinish it to create planks suitable for residential floors. So you can install a new hardwood floor without any new trees being cut down.

If you are wondering if these reused boards are structurally sound, they are. The wood used in these older buildings came from old-growth forests, from older first-generation trees; on the other hand, today’s hardwood floors are made from wood harvested from tree farms, where the trees never truly reach maturity before being cut down, hence, many people consider them as superior to the planks made from today’s trees.

Cork
We are all familiar with the cork-stop in wine bottles. Cork flooring is the same material, just formed into tiles or planks. While softwoods are not usually considered ideal flooring material, cork is an excellent choice for several reasons. The natural elasticity of cork makes these floors especially comfortable; the wood provides thermal and acoustic insulation; and the durable floors recover well from marks left by furniture or high heels. If you install cork in the kitchen, it will soften the impact of a dropped dish which might keep it from breaking. Cork floors are also considered hypoallergenic since they won’t attract dust. Cork floors are fire-resistant, and can even serve as a natural insect repellant. Cork is considered eco-friendly because it’s harvested from sustainable resources. It comes from the bark of the cork oak tree which can be collected without harming the tree itself, and better yet, the cork oak tree grows back every three years. Also, installation of cork floor is fairly easy.

Bamboo
Bamboo is another flooring material that is catching on in popularity. It is considered eco-friendly because bamboo is a fast-growing grass, rather than a tree, and farms can grow a shoot to maturity in just a few years. This popular green flooring option is 13 per cent harder than Maple and 27 per cent harder than Northern Red Oak, so it lasts longer and can withstand more use than conventional hardwood floors. Bamboo floors are naturally resistant to water, mildew and insects.

Although bamboo is somewhat similar to hardwood floors, it has a distinct look, and some people prefer that uniqueness to hardwoods. It is a sturdy, durable material and will last just as long as wood. Though there aren't as many varieties as there are species of wood, different finishes can create different looks for your selection. Bamboo flooring is installed the same as hardwood flooring, either glued together or nailed down.

Bamboo flooring is extremely strong, long-lasting and also one of the most environmentally friendly building materials on the market today. Bamboo flooring makers use one of the hardest species of Chinese bamboo, cut it into strips before drying and laminating it under pressure. The result is a flooring product that's stronger than maple or red oak.

Linoleum & Marmoleum
You can add life to any room with a colorful selection in linoleum. These floors are also hypoallergenic and biodegradable. Marmoleum, a natural linoleum floor, is also an option worth considering since it is derived from organic products and is completely biodegradable.

Linoleum is made from all natural ingredients. Linseed oil is derived by pressing flax seed and it is dried and grinded into a powdery binder. This is combined with limestone, which is extremely abundant, pine rosin, and cork and wood flour to form a doughy material to which color is added. Once pressed, it is rolled onto a jute backing and dried. Jute is spun from fibers of jute plants grown in Indian and Bangladesh.

Linoleum floor is low maintenance and very durable. It hardens as it ages with a service life of up to 30 to 40 years. It is also available in a wide variety of colors, and unlike most vinyl flooring, the color goes all the way through the linoleum. Additionally linoleum produces a natural bacteriacide that is non toxic to humans, making it an ideal choice for hospitals. Linoleum is marketed heavily to the commercial sector, but it is available for residential applications.