It would be tremendously interesting, I think, to learn all of the Chemistry involved in carpet manufacturing, both historical and current-day, both for carpets which are manufactured domestically and those manufactured abroad (different regulatory frameworks = probable different and/or subtly different chemical processes)...

Now, that sounds really boring and potentially a waste of time, right?

Well, yes, and no, and yes!

Well it's complicated!

I would speculate (being horrendously undereducated on the subject!) that there probably exist a set of chemical processes which could create Carpets without any harmful environmental waste or residual chemicals which subsequently require disposal.

What these would be or could be, I as-of-yet do not know...

It's a subject that needs research... a lot of research... lots and lots of research!

But, while it might sound like a really boring, uninteresting, "there's nothing to see here" kind of goal, keep in mind this quote from the article:

>"Mohawk logged more than $3.4 billion in net sales. Shaw Industries reported $4.2 billion."

Yup, the global carpet market is worth... (wait for it!)... "Billion$"!

So -- an interesting problem for present and future Scientists/Chemists! Crack it (in whole or in part!) and your solution or partial solution could be worth Billion$!

I mean, I'd put that up against a Clay Millennium Prize for solving a complex Math problem, I'd put that against a Nobel Prize or Fields Medal or Dirac Medal or Feynman Prize!

Yup, solve The Carpet Chemistry Problem(tm) (let's give it a name!) -- and your share of Billion$ (as Carl Sagan would say!) could be yours! :-)

(I now will humbly submit this post for the obligatory yes-I-know-they-are-coming downvotes! :-) )