Landfills across the country no longer have to roll out the red carpet (or green carpet, or blue carpet, or any colored carpet for that matter) for its visitors. That’s because more and more of the soft floorcovering is finding its way back into other end uses, according to the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) organization, who are spearheading the carpet industry’s mission to divert land filling of its product.

CARE, the non-profit organization that was born out of a national agreement between state, federal and local governments, as well as the carpet industry and non-governmental agencies, reported at its recent annual meeting that nearly half-a-billion pounds of carpet had been diverted in its first four years of existence.

That number continues to increase, having risen from 57.4 million pounds during CARE’s inaugural year of existence to a reported 225 million pounds for the year 2005. The good news only gets better: CARE expects that number will likely double next year when the 2006 numbers are reported.

CARE marks 2005 as a very exciting year for the organization if for no other reason than its bottom line, but when we look back at it in the years ahead, I feel it will be significant in the fact that 2005 was the year we first starting seeing the fruits of our efforts.

The 2005 CARE three-day annual conference (see “CARE Conference 2006,” p. SF28, ED+C, June 2006) brought together recyclers, prospective entrepreneurs, carpet industry, state and federal officials, and equipment manufacturers at Southern Pine Conference Center at Callaway Gardens — the nation's first LEED-certified Conference and Convention Center — and generated lively discussion in an open forum between the stakeholders.

The release of CARE’s Fourth Annual Report included updates on progress the organization has made in its first four years of existence, as well as the annual survey results for 2005, which showed an increase of 108 percent from the amount reported diverted in 2004.

In 2005, reported recycling and diversion of post-consumer carpet doubled from 2004, bringing the total amount of carpet diverted from landfill to 483.7 million pounds since CARE started calculating the numbers in 2002. Of the total 225 million pounds of post-consumer carpet reported to be diverted from landfill in 2005, 194.3 million pounds was reported being recycled. Compared to 2004, this represents a 97 percent increase in recycling.

Aside from the known amount we have reported in 2005, we now see a path to demand in 2007 that adds an additional need for more than 400 million pounds of old carpet. I am forecasting another increase of greater than 100 percent for 2006, which would reinforce our belief that this new industry of carpet reclamation is well on its way and on course to meet our overall goals.

care’s history and future

CARE was formed as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding for Carpet Stewardship (MOU), a national agreement signed by members of the carpet industry, representatives of government agencies at the federal, state and local levels, and non-governmental organizations. CARE's mission is to foster market-based solutions for recovering value from discarded carpet to meet the recycling and reuse goals set forth in the MOU. CARE has been charged with the task of providing an annual report on the progress of the goals set forth in the MOU which includes an ultimate 40 percent diversion rate of carpet to landfills by the year 2012.

“The numbers we have available to us today, along with the known entities we are aware [of] that will ultimately affect our reported numbers next year, are a clear indication we are on the verge of expansive growth. Optimism abounds in the task ahead, and we have more confidence than ever before we will meet, and perhaps surpass, our 40 percent diversion goal over time,” said Frank Hurd, chairman of the board for CARE.

The Annual Report is a key component of the annual monitoring in place to show progress toward the goals in the MOU. The report also offers updates on market development opportunities, quantities of discarded carpet diverted from landfills, successes and obstacles encountered, and related state and federal efforts. The data was compiled via a confidential survey administered by Weston Solutions and the report can also be found in its entirety on the CARE website (http://carpetrecovery.org).

In addition to the investment already noted, carpet mills continue to focus on both design of sustainable carpet products and also the incorporation of post-industrial, post-consumer, and bio-based components into their product systems. Much of this is driven by the desire to meet the dual objectives of end of life management and recycle content as embodied in the ANSI Draft Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard, NSF 140-2005 found at http://www.nsf.org.

SIDEBAR 1: Did you know?

• 40 percent of all energy used in the United States is associated with buildings (commercial and residential).


• Transportation consumes 28 percent of all energy used.


• CARE reported 225 million pounds of old carpet recycled last year. 225 million pounds of carpet equates to:
  • Enough energy to heat 12,500 homes for one year;
  
  
  • Avoids 1.6M pounds of CO2 equivalents averted by not having to make virgin materials; and
  
  
  • 1.1M cubic yards of landfill space saved.

SIDEBAR 2: ansi draft green carpet standard moves forward

an american national standards institute (ansi) draft standard for green carpet specification (NSF 140) is now active in the marketplace. The ansi draft standard is a comprehensive, first of its kind product standard. It covers five key elements of environmental performance:

• safe for public health and the environment (product and manufacturing processes);
• green or renewal energy usage;
• recycled or biobased material content;
• management systems; and
• end of life programs (landfill diversion).

there are four levels of certification: platinum, gold, silver and bronze. the first products to certify against the new standard are expected in the marketplace in September.

SIDEBAR 3: Greitzer Named California Resource Recovery Association’s 2006 Recycler of the Year

Ronald Greitzer, President of Los Angeles Fiber Co., was named California Resource Recovery Association’s 2006 Recycler of the Year during an awards ceremony held in San Jose, California on August 8, 2006. Greitzer was honored for the outstanding efforts he has made throughout the years to divert and recycle challenging materials from California’s landfills. Greitzer’s ability to successfully recycle carpet and textile material waste positively impacts the waste diversion effort and waste diversion goal obtainment of many California Jurisdictions. Los Angeles Fiber Co. is currently the world’s largest recycler of post-consumer carpet. To put the company’s environmental achievements into perspective, Los Angeles Fiber Co. currently diverts enough waste material to fill the Pasadena Rose Bowl every four months.

“It is a great honor to be named California Resource Recovery Association's 2006 Recycle Person of the Year. CRRA is one of the premier recycling associations in the United States,” Greitzer said upon receiving the award. “CRRA is driven to fulfill its mission of ZERO WASTE in our landfills. This award belongs to the Los Angeles Fiber team, all of our employees, that helped create the collection systems, redesign the equipment, produce the finish products, develop the markets, and build a company using 100 percent post consumer carpet as the raw material. I like to thank California Integrated Waste Management Board and Carpet America Recovery Effort, CARE, for all of the support we received.”