You may have heard that soybeans can be used for a lot of things, but you probably didn’t know that you may be walking on them everyday.

Thanks to a partnership with the United Soybean Board (USB) and soybean checkoff, Universal Textile Technologies (UTT) has developed a new carpet-backing product for use in hotels, condominiums and other moderately trafficked areas.

The bio-based carpet backing offers such advantages as being able to stand up to repeated wet cleanings as well as being able to withstand heavy furniture. In the past, carpet backing has largely consisted of petroleum-based material. But thanks to this technology, 90 percent of the petroleum in UTT’s backing has been replaced with bio-based products.