CARE's Sikorski on Complying With California AB 2398

If It Ships, It Fits – Complying with California’s AB 2398

Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE)’s Georgina Sikorski tells carpet manufacturers and importers how to meet the requirements of the nation’s first product stewardship law for carpet.

In an interview that aired on Floordaily.net in January, 2011, Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) Executive Director Georgina Sikorski tells publisher Kemp Harr that now is the time for any company that manufactures carpet in California or ships carpet for sale in that state to register a stewardship plan in order to stay in compliance with the law.

California AB 2398 Carpet Stewardship Program is product stewardship legislation that was signed into law in September, 2010. The first law of its kind directed specifically at carpet, AB 2398 is intended to increase the diversion and recycling of carpet in the state of California. In brief, the law establishes a .05 cent per square yard assessment that will ultimately be collected from the consumer. The money will be used to promote the recycling and landfill diversion of carpet in California. It will also go towards developing new products made with reclaimed or recycled carpet content.

(See related blog posts CARE Webinar: AB 2398 California Carpet Recycling Bill, CRI's Jennifer Mendez Covers State Legislatures for Carpet Industry: TalkFloorTV, Government Mandates vs. Private Sector Recycling: Carpet and Rug Institute's Jennifer Mendez)

Approximately 3.5 billion pounds of carpet are deposited in landfills each year in the United States. Since its founding in 2002, CARE has facilitated the recovery, reclamation, and recycling of 1.6 billion pounds of post-consumer carpet.

California named CARE to be the stewardship organization for AB 2398, which means the organization is tasked with, among other things, presenting a stewardship plan on behalf of the carpet industry to CalRecycle, the organization responsible for recycling in California. Ms. Sikorski stressed that carpet manufacturers should register with CARE or CalRecycle by July 1, 2011, adding that most carpet manufacturers have already registered with CARE. Her goal is to make sure the word gets out to all manufacturers as well as carpet importers that they must file a stewardship plan with either CARE or CalRecycle by July 1, 2011. 

Listen to the 7-minute interview titled Georgina Sikorski Discusses Compliance Requirements For Mills Selling Carpet into California by clicking on the link.

~ Bethany