(DfE) is a US Program to help businesses incorporate environmental considerations into the design and redesign of products, processes, and technical and management systems. Design for Environment (DfE) systematically considers during design, issues associated with environmental safety and health over the entire product life cycle. It is the migration of traditional pollution prevention concepts upstream into the development phase of products before production and use. The objective is to minimize or eliminate, during design, the anticipated waste generation and resource consumption in all subsequent life cycle phases.

Ecological design is catching among architects and design firms.

Collins & Aikman Floorcoverings over the past 5 yrs has managed to cut energy use by 43%, water use by 58%, and waste shipped to landfills by 85% The company now offers to take back any carpet it manufactures and recycle it into new carpet or into flooring materials: It guarantees that none of the returned carpet will be incinerated or sent to landfills.

They also offer a carpet line with a backing made entirely from recycled and remanufactured carpet. The company had to develop new extrusion techniques and design a process for recycling old carpets. Old carpet is chopped into small pieces and turned into pellets that are mixed with other recycled materials, melted, formed into new backing, and combined with the fibres that make up the pile of new carpet.

The new product has equivalent performance to carpet made of virgin raw materials, emits fewer VOCs, and has been installed in more than 120 corporate, government, and retail facilities in the US. They have developed partnerships with key suppliers, like Dupont, on nylon that has higher recycled content and with other suppliers to eliminate ozone-depleting It aims to completely 'close' the materials cycle for its products in the future.