About CARE

Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) is a joint industry-government effort to increase the amount of recycling and reuse of post-consumer carpet and reduce the amount of waste carpet going to landfills. CARE was established as a result of a 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.

Downloadable CARE Fact Sheet (PDF 55 KB) Need help with PDF?

CARE Mission Statement
The mission of CARE is to facilitate the carpet industry lead initiative to find market driven solutions to the diversion of post-consumer carpet from landfills to meet the time sensitive goals of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Carpet Stewardship.

CARE Vision
To bring value to the emerging post-consumer carpet recycling industry through reuse, recycling into carpet and non-carpet products and other diversion technologies

Core Values

Market Driven Solutions

Conservation of resources

Foster entrepreneurship

Prioritized in accordance with the value pyramid

Maintain an open process

Establish and foster a collaborative environment

Insure multistakeholder involvement

Operate with the highest integrity

Goals for CARE

To achieve sustainable funding

Increase the demand and market opportunity for PCC

Strengthen the leadership position of CARE

Evaluation and Reporting
Through CARE, carpet industry members and government entities are jointly responsible for monitoring, assessing and reporting on the progress toward the national goals for carpet recover as agreed upon in the MOU. Stakeholders outside of the carpet industry maintain active roles in CARE to assist with data collection, analysis, and program evaluation to ensure transparency in reporting on the status of activity. A series of reports is planned to show progress toward the goals in the MOU.

Annual Report. CARE issues an annual report at the CARE Awards each year. This report will offer updated market development opportunities for recovered carpet, information on quantities managed through the various management options outlined in the negotiated outcomes goals, an assessment of successes and obstacles encountered during the reporting period, and a summary of state and federal efforts related to carpet. CARE will post the reports on their website and publicize them through other means. Download the CARE annual report.

Interim Reports. For 2005, CARE will do a status report documenting progress made toward meeting the "year three" management goals. In year five (2007), an independent study will be commissioned to evaluate the progress and identify existing barriers toward meeting the negotiated outcomes goals. A jointly supported and facilitated multi-stakeholder group composed of CARE members will review the report and develop implementation strategies and make recommendations for improving the recovery and integrated management of post-consumer carpet.

2010 Negotiations. In year eight (2010), CARE and other stakeholders shall create a multi-stakeholder process for developing recommendations and goals for the next ten-year period. Invited stakeholders will include at least five (5) states, ten (10) members of the carpet industry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and one (1) NGO.

Final Report. In 2012, CARE will issue a final report detailing progress made toward meeting the goals of the first ten-year plan.

Board of Directors

Paul Ashman - Environmental Recovery Consolidation Services (ERCS)
Larry Cook - Beaulieu of America
Russ DeLozier - Shaw Industries Inc.
Matthew Ewadinger - North Carolina Recycling Business Assistance Center
Ron Greitzer - L.A. Fiber Company Inc.
Garth Hickle - Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Frank Hurd - The Carpet and Rug Institute
Glen Hussmann - Tandus
Richard Kruse - Kruse Carpet Recycling
Brendan McSheehy, Jr. - Universal Fiber Systems LLC
Eric Nelson - Interface
Tom Pendley - J&J/Invision
Robert Peoples, Ph.D. - ACS Green Chemistry Institute
Bob Pilotti – ECM Plastics, Inc.
Sean Ragiel - CarpetCycle
Georgina Sikorski - Executive Director, CARE
Joe Yarbrough - Mohawk Group Inc.
Fred Williamson - StarNet commercial flooring Cooperative Inc

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