Carpet America Recovery Effort

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California’s Carpet Recycling Program Annual Report Shows Improving Recycling Rate, Yield and Technological Advances

Cover of California Carpet Stewardship Program 2020 Annual Report
California Carpet Stewardship Program’s 2020 Annual Report

At a time of immense strain on recycling efforts across the country, carpet recycling saw significant progress in 2020 in California, according to the just-released California Carpet Stewardship Program 2020 Annual Report. The California Program achieved an all-time program high recycling rate of 23.2 percent in Q4 2020, with an overall annual recycling rate of 21 percent in 2020. While it did not meet the target 24 percent goal, the recycling rate for this fossil-fuel-based material is up 107% in the past five years.

68 percent of the carpet collected in California was recycled in 2020. This percentage, called the yield, has grown dramatically over the life of the program from just 28 percent 9 years ago, thanks to expanded processing capacity, growing markets for post-consumer carpet materials and technological advances. Major market development efforts, particularly in the creation of a market for carpet backing material, also known as PC4, has led to this outstanding 68 percent yield rate.
53 foot truck for recycling carpet with CARE logo
in the past five years alone, 292 million pounds of discarded carpet was kept out of California landfills – equivalent to more than 10,000 fully-loaded 53-foot trailers – and recycled into useful new products.

CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples notes, “We are incredibly proud of the determination and resilience shown by the California carpet recycling community. Thanks to their efforts, in the past five years alone, 292 million pounds of discarded carpet was kept out of California landfills – equivalent to more than 10,000 full-loaded 53-foot trailers of carpet – and recycled into useful new products.

According to the California Carpet Stewardship Program’s 2020 Annual Report:
  • The California Program achieved an all-time program high recycling rate of 23.2 percent in Q4, with an overall annual recycling rate of 21 percent in 2020. This is short of the Program’s 24 percent goal but reflects steady year-over-year compounded growth of 20% per year, despite a global pandemic and other challenges, while other materials’ recycling rates have declined.
  • 67 million pounds of post-consumer carpet was diverted from California landfills.
  • 53 million pounds of recycled output was produced.
  • Over 72 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions (MTC02E) was saved.
  • $16.9 million in subsidies supported collectors, processors and manufacturers of recycled carpet material.
  • Nearly $1.1 million in grant funding was paid in 2020. Since 2017, CARE has paid over $8 million to grow carpet recycling via grants for capital improvement, product testing and expansion of collection.
In addition, CARE’s prompt and multi-faceted emergency COVID-19 Action Plan has provided critical support to the industry as it faces the economic and operational challenges of 2020. The Action Plan included special payouts in 2020 totaling $1.6 million to Collector/Sorters, Processors, and Manufacturers, credited with saving the industry from disaster.

 

Collection of carpet is a vital part of the recycling process. By the end of 2020, there were 83 CARE-sponsored public Drop-off Sites in 54 counties (an increase of 150 percent in number of sites from 2016), in addition to the over 230 private collection sites in the state.

 

Through subsidies, grants and technical assistance, CARE supports increased collection and processing of carpet into products containing recycled carpet material. Twenty-four vendors currently incorporate carpet in 76 products for a variety of industrial and retail applications, including automotive plastic components, rubber transition mats, building materials, and absorbency products.
Watch video for highlights of recent progress:

California Program: Q2 2021 Results

CARE’s California Carpet Stewardship Program continued to make progress in Q2 2021. The Recycling Rate for Q2 was 29 percent, setting another high-water mark. The yield (output/collections) — an important measure of recycling efficiency — reached 83 percent. Efforts continue to enable expanded collections to support the higher recycled output. Eighty-four percent of program expenses were paid out in the form of subsidies. In terms of national trends, Executive Director Bob Peoples notes, “All indicators continue to point in the right direction as the U.S. grapples with the latest Covid surge and supply chains remain strained. Transportation costs have doubled and then some in many areas.”
See the presentation:

 

Carpet Recycling & COVID: Navigating the Pandemic

CARE was a silver sponsor of the recent California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) Conference, held virtually August 16-19. CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples participated in a session along with representatives from stewardship groups PaintCare and Mattress Recycling Council about lessons learned from the COVID pandemic.

His presentation can be viewed here.

New Flyer Highlights Progress of CA Program

CARE has published a four-page flyer that describes the California Carpet Stewardship Program and recent progress, aimed at informing retailers and increasing collection of carpet for recycling. It will be mailed in July to thousands of retailers and flooring contractors across the state. The flyer details CARE’s work with retailers, installers, manufacturers, processors and local government to increase the amount of carpet collected, kept out of landfill and made into useful new products. It introduces the carpet assessment and how it is used and details how CARE is working to increase recycling rate for carpet in California, which is showing excellent progress over the past five years.

CARE Program Highlights, Summer 2021

California Program: Q1 2021 Results

CARE’s California Carpet Stewardship Program extended its solid recovery in Q1 2021, with continued increase in the collection and recycling rates. The Recycling Rate for Q1 was 26 percent, setting another high-water mark. This represents the continuation since 2015 of significant increases in the Recycling Rate, on average 20 percent per year through 2020. The yield (output/collections) was 77 percent. Efforts continue to enable expanded collections to support the higher recycled output. There are now 86 CARE Public Drop-Off Sites, and the total carpet collection network (public + private) in Q1 was 275 sites across the state.

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