Rugmark Receives "Alternatives" Award

January 28, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Green on January 29, 2010

RugMark has been awarded with the Building Economic Alternatives Award, given by Green America to recognize groups or individuals that are leading the movement to use the economy as a tool for building a more just and sustainable society.

RugMark was chosen for this award in recognition of its work through the GoodWeave certification program to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry while offering educational opportunities to increase opportunities for children in South Asia. The certification standard will soon include green benchmarks to reduce water and air pollution related to rug washing and dyeing, along with living wages and improved working conditions for of-age workers.

"It's a thrill to give this award to RugMark," says Denise Hamler, director of Green Business programs at Green America, which works to promote social justice and environmental sustainability through economic action. "They have been a huge force in ending child labor in South Asia for 15 years, and with the GoodWeave label we see that they are embracing the true meaning of 'green'--one that means environmental and social responsibility. We are proud to salute the important work they do."

Through its GoodWeave program, RugMark certifies that rugs sold with the GoodWeave label were made without child labor. Since RugMark began in 1994, illegal child labor in the handmade carpet industry of South Asia has decreased by 75 percent, from an estimated one million to 250,000 child workers. To date, RugMark has rescued more than 3,600 children and deterred hundreds of thousands more from exploitation on carpet looms, offering rescued victims rehabilitation, education, vocational training, and other services; more than 9,000 emancipated and at-risk children have attended school with RugMark support.

For the last 20 years, Green America has given the BEA Award to an organization or individual whose outstanding work deals with the green economy issues covered by the previous year€™s Green American (formerly Co-op America Quarterly). Nominees are proposed by members across the country and voted on by the staff at Green America.

"We are pleased to accept this award," said Nina Smith, executive director of Rugmark USA. "It is a great recognition of both our past and future work, which will include an enhanced set of values coinciding with the expansion of the GoodWeave label to include humanitarian and environmental certification criteria."