Recycled Carpet Protects Florida Coast From Oil

Defending a Coastline from Oil, Florida County Turns to Recycled Carpet

It’s official – a product made entirely of recycled carpet fiber is being used in a Florida state park to help keep the beaches clean if and when the oil spill reaches shore there.

Highly-absorbent bales of GeoHay have been used for several years in Florida to control erosion along the state’s highway construction projects, but emergency response crews have discovered that the fiber rolls will also attract and capture oil floating in the water. The GeoHay holds onto oil, but lets the water drain out. Best of all, the water that drains out is clean – nearly 100% oil-free. [See Walton County responds quickly to oil impact at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park.]

GeoHay is a member of CARE – the Carpet America Recovery Effort – a nationwide group devoted to finding new uses for recycled carpet and keeping it out of landfills.

CARE issued a press release about the use of GeoHay. In it, CARE Executive Director Georgina Sikorski said, “GeoHay is addressing two environmental needs: The immediate one, which is to protect beaches and wetlands, and CARE's long-term goal of reducing waste going to landfills."

Walton County, Florida posted a video online that shows how the GeoHay is being used. [Subscribers, click on this link to view the video of GeoHay on YouTube.]



Congratulations to CARE, and thank goodness for GeoHay!

~Bethany

Image credit: Walton County responds quickly to oil impact at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park.