Carpet Recycling Stories Keep Rolling In

It seems that lately, I am hearing more and more about carpet recycling and landfill diversion (even for me – and I hear about it a lot). From Ford Motor Company making cylinder head covers for some of their engines out of nylon recovered from carpet, (see Ford Puts Recycled Carpet 'Under the Hood') to the items I mention later in this blog post, carpet recycling is in the news.

The surge in carpet recycling information started as I was getting ready to attend the Carpet America Recovery Effort’s Annual Meeting. I always enjoy this meeting – the interesting people, good company, and fascinating information about the different ways businesses and academia are finding to use material derived from post-consumer carpet researchers. [I shared some of what I learned at that meeting in Carpet Recycling Diverts 2 Billion Pounds Since 2002].

Given the interest and the stories, I thought you might enjoy several items of good news for carpet recycling and diversion.

The Carpet Recyclers of La Mirada, California reports it has reached a milestone. Since beginning operations in 2009, the company has collected and recycled 100 million pounds of post-consumer carpet.

According to the company’s press release, the amount of carpet recycled has kept 95,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and saved 9.8 million gallons of oil.

The recovered material was used to make products such as automobile parts and building materials, and recycled back to make new carpet fiber and carpet pad. The firm said it is on track to recycle over 60 million pounds of carpet in 2011. It also said it has created 60 new green jobs in California and expects that number to increase to 150 by the end of the year.

Larry Fink, President of The Carpet Recyclers, credits the influence of AB 2398, California’s new carpet stewardship law, for the surge in interest and participation. [See FloorDaily Carpet Recyclers Hits 100M Pound Mark.]

ReSource Members Divert 7 Million Pounds of Carpet

In other news, ReSource Commercial Flooring Network (See related blog post Resource Members Join CARE Aligned Dealer Program) said that its members diverted more than 7 million pounds of carpet waste from landfills in 2010, bringing the network's total to more than 15.5 million pounds since the organization began reporting its efforts in 2008.

Through ReSource’s recycling initiative, Ecollect, ReSource members promote sustainable business practices throughout their locations through recycling, reuse, donation and waste to energy. ReSource represents 64 commercial flooring dealers at 97 locations across the U.S.

Are there any carpet recyclers out there who aren’t part of the Carpet America Recovery Effort? If so, we need to know about you and hear what you have been doing!

~Bethany