Memorandum of Understanding for
Carpet Stewardship (MOU)

On January 8, 2002, in Atlanta, Georgia, members of the carpet industry, representatives of government agencies at the federal, state and local levels, and non-governmental organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Carpet Stewardship (MOU). This important agreement establishes an ambitious ten-year schedule to increase the amount of recycling and reuse of post-consumer carpet and reduce the amount of waste carpet going to landfills.

The MOU is the result of a two-year negotiation process, in which participants came together to draft and implement a plan to change how waste carpet is managed in the United States.

National goals. The agreement sets forth national goals over a ten-year timeframe to significantly increase the amount of recycling and reuse of post-consumer carpet. By 2012, the parties plan to achieve a landfill diversion goal of 40%. These goals can be viewed as steps toward fulfilling a long-term commitment by the carpet industry for the eventual elimination of land disposal, incineration, and incineration with energy recovery (waste-to-energy) of waste carpet.

Product stewardship. The agreement promotes product stewardship for carpet by asking manufacturers to assume responsibility for funding the overall effort and meeting the goals for recycling and reuse of waste carpet. This approach is expected to reduce the environmental impacts of carpet throughout its life cycle - from design to end-of-life management.

Third-party organization. The carpet industry created the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) to meet the goals of the agreement. The group, with members from the carpet industry and government, is responsible for monitoring, evaluating and assessing progress toward the Negotiated Outcomes Goals. CARE is funded and administered by the carpet industry.

A voluntary agreement. This national agreement on carpet recycling is a voluntary agreement between the carpet industry, state governments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Photo: David Humber The goal: Divert 40% of waste carpet from landfills by 2012.

A model agreement. This voluntary partnership is a model for future product stewardship initiatives. Members of the carpet industry and representatives from government will work together to overcome barriers to recycling and reuse of post-consumer carpet. They recognize the importance of developing systems that treat discarded carpet as a resource instead of a waste product.

First ten-year plan. The agreement outlines goals for the years 2002–2012. The parties will begin negotiations for the following ten years in 2010.

The challenge of waste carpet. The amount of carpet that is reaching the end of its useful life and entering the waste stream is ever-increasing: Estimated total discards for 2002 are 4.7 billion pounds. Land disposal, or landfilling, is by far the most common disposal method (96%). National concerns about disposal capacity, combined with carpet's bulk (which makes it difficult and expensive to handle), have contributed to the search for alternative means for carpet disposal.

While most components that make up carpet are recyclable or reusable, only about 4% of waste carpet currently gets handled in these ways. Increasing recycling and reuse would reduce waste and recover valuable resources.

The negotiated goals set forth in the MOU include escalating goals for reuse and recycling — the first step in the eventual elimination of land disposal and incineration of post-consumer carpet.

Summary of the national goals for carpet recovery