If you have been to Boston recently, you’ve probably noticed the “Cool Globes” exhibits, which promote sustainability through artistic expression. One particular globe created by artist, Karen Ami, is titled “Manufacturing a Green Way” and American Engineered Fabrics, Inc. of New Bedford, MA, says it strives to embody the message of this globe.
 
“The bottom of the globe is a brick mosaic, representing a manufacturing building and the colorful floral mosaics represent the beauty of the environment when manufacturing goes green,” says the artist Ami.
 
Located in an historic textile town symbolic of the country’s 20th century manufacturing power, American Engineered Fabrics manufactures The Green Geotextiles, a proprietary and eco-friendly nonwoven fabric made from 100% post-consumer polyester. Originally derived from green soda bottles, The Green Geotextiles qualifies for LEED-based projects. LEED credit certification uses a point system determined by the U.S. Green Building Council of which AEF is a member. Companies with accumulated LEED credits often receive financial incentives for sustainable practices. This innovative geotextile offers engineers and architects a new alternative to help achieve sustainability requirements.
 
“Americans use approximately 2,000,000 plastic bottles every hour,” says Daniel Weinstein, president and CEO of the company. “When we ship a truckload of The Green Geotextiles we save 300,000 plastic bottles from being dumped into landfills.”
 
AEF’s green footprint doesn’t stop there. The Green Geotextiles is regularly sold as capillary fabric to the green roofing industry and as containment pads for the oil and gas industry. In the latter case, The Green Geotextiles promotes sustainability in both its composition and its application. The fabric’s green color, beside obvious eco-connotations, increases work site safety by reducing ambient air temperatures by as much as 20 degrees.
 
American Engineered Fabrics traces its beginnings to A. Weinstein and Son, a wool trading and blending company. 100 years ago the company started a tradition of environmental responsibility by buying recycled wool and selling it to be processed into other manufactured products.
 
Charles Weinstein in 1946 transformed the company into Trans American Spinning Mills, which broadened the company’s products through the purchase of recycled wool and synthetics to manufacture yarn and blankets. In 1981, Charles’ son, Reuben Weinstein, launched American Engineered Fabrics. In 1989 Reuben created Boom Environmental Products as the distribution arm of AEF.
 
Boom Environmental adapted the geotextile materials manufactured by AEF into fiber-locked absorbents. AEF, headed by Reuben’s son, Daniel, now continues its innovation in recycled nonwoven textiles with The Green Geotextiles portfolio of products made from 100% post consumer polyester.