Earlier this summer, CARE’s Executive Director Bob Peoples presented at Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK)‘s annual conference in Birmingham, England. Hosted on the banks of one of the famous old canals built to transport coal to the city, approximately 90 people attended excellent presentations, visited vendor booths and shared the organization’s success.
As CARE’s sister organization, Bob was excited to report CRUK has surpassed their diversion goal ahead of schedule. CRUK aimed to reach 25% diversion by 2015, but hit 27% in 2013!
Energy from waste represents almost 60% of this total. Use in equestrian surfaces makes up another 35%. CRUK’s Vision 2020 calls for 60% diversion.
While we celebrate this success alongside CRUK, it’s important to remember the UK is a much different environment compared to the US. In the UK, waste to energy is an acceptable alternative for landfill diversion, where it’s referred to as “energy from waste.” The UK is also moving to polypropylene, and PET has just surfaced – although it is not expected to penetrate markets the way it has in the US.
We look forward to keeping our CARE partners updated as we continue to collaborate with CRUK on international carpet recycling and diversion solutions.