Carpet America Recovery Effort

Developing Market Based Solutions for the Recycling & Reuse of Post-Consumer Carpet

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CARE Welcomes Thomas Coates: Interview

Thomas Coates headshotThomas Coates joined CARE as the California Program Director in July 2022. Here he talks about his background and vision for the organization and carpet recycling in the state.

How has your past work experience prepared you for the CARE CA Program Director job?

As a native of southern California, I understand the state’s eco-consciousness when it comes to avoiding waste and disposal. As a leader in local government, I have worked with businesses, community leaders, and our partners at CalRecycle to implement sustainability programs that meet the State’s recycling mandates while benefiting all vested parties. As an entrepreneur, I have worked to find market-based solutions through balanced risk taking and innovate application of available technologies. As a manager, I have experience leading diverse and multi-disciplinary groups that were tasked-oriented and collaborative. I have found that using the collective knowledge of a team helps me to make the best decisions.

What do you see as CARE’s current major challenge?

The main challenge before us is collecting more discarded carpet material. While we have done an excellent job of building the infrastructure to process and develop materials desired in the marketplace, we must now be laser-focused on increasing points of collection, particularly in the southern part of the state.

What are the larger trends in recycling, waste and sustainability that you think will impact CARE’s work moving forward?

As California’s momentum around recycling policies continues to grow, I think there will be a call for more post-consumer content in new material, so in turn we will need to capture more discarded carpet to meet the demand.

As climate concerns continue to dominate environmental discussions, I believe landfill operators will look to operations such as ours to aid in reducing material going into their system in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Lastly, I would offer that with improvements in recycling equipment technologies, recyclers will be able to capture more of the most voluminous fibers in carpet, which in turn could allow for an expansion in the number of products that could benefit from using reclaimed carpet fibers.

What are CARE’s organizational strengths?

We focus on being a skilled and creative service provider to our partners and stakeholders.

Executive Director Bob Peoples has assembled a dynamic team that is highly skilled, technically competent and success oriented. I am blessed to work with talented and skilled professionals who are dedicated to bringing to life our vision of success.

How about your free time?

In my spare time I can be found courtside at my son Evan’s high school basketball games or cooking up new vegan recipes in the kitchen with my daughter, Maya.

 

 

Thomas Coates Named California Carpet Stewardship Program Director

Experienced Environmental Sustainability Professional Joined CARE on July 5

Thomas Coates headshotThomas Coates has been named the new California Carpet Stewardship Program Director as of July 5, 2022. Coates brings over 20 years of varied experience in the environmental field, and specializes in leading strategic environmental compliance analysis, development and standardization. From 2016-2022, Coates served as Lead Program Manager, Environmental & Compliance for the City of Ontario, CA. He previously worked as Program Specialist for San Bernardino County and as Sustainability Analyst/Coordinator for CR&R Environmental Services in Stanton, CA. He holds a master’s in Business Management from University of Redlands and a bachelor’s in Communications from Cal State – San Bernardino. Coates takes over the position from Interim Program Director Abbie Beane, who returns to her important role of Grants Manager on the CARE team.

Coates stated, “My purpose in accepting the Director position is to make sure that CARE is successful in reaching goals to keep post-consumer carpet out of landfills to help our stakeholders grow their business through the use of new technology and greater application of our resources.”

CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples noted, “I am delighted that Thomas has accepted to become our next California Program Director. His wide-ranging skills and experience make him the ideal person to take our growing program to the next level, while creatively working with the challenges that arise.”

In collaboration with Peoples and the CARE team, Thomas Coates will be responsible for the management and administration of all aspects of the Program, including delivering services to its target audiences to increase reuse, recycling and landfill diversion of post-­consumer carpet discards in California.

Based in southern California, Coates looks forward to traveling extensively to meet with stakeholders across the state.

 

Record California Carpet Recycling Rate Reached in Q1 2022

The carpet recycling rate in California for Q1 2022 hit a record 34.1%. The 18.1 million pounds of recycled output represents a 13% increase over Q4 2021. Executive Director Bob Peoples noted, “With this 34% milestone, we are off to a good start in 2022. While we are concerned about certain economic trends and about ongoing impacts from the COVID epidemic, it is great to see our six-year growth trend continue for another quarter.” The target recycling rate for 2022 set by CARE’s Five-Year Plan is 26%.
At its 20th anniversary conference in May, CARE announced the availability of two commercially acceptable fiber identification devices. These devices are essential for the efficient sorting of carpet collected for recycling. This is a major development after the only active company exited the business last December.
View the full presentation:

Recycling Article Reaches Readers of 43 Media Outlets

article photoThe article, “4 Ways to Protect the Planet by Recycling Right,” a collaboration by CARE with three other product stewardship groups, was placed in 43 online media outlets across the state in April-May 2022. The article  (view in the Los Angeles Times here) makes the connection between recycling and mitigating climate change and gives basic instruction on how to recycle some tricky items: carpet, paint, mattresses and batteries, along with links to more information.

This is the second such “partner article’ the four product stewardship groups — CARE, PaintCare, Mattress Recycling Council and Call2Recycle — have worked on with a goal of raising awareness with the public that items like carpet, paint, mattresses and batteries can be recycled.

 

CARE Names 2021 Recyclers & Persons of the Year

Dalton, GA, May 3, 2022 – CARE announced winners of the Recycler and Person of the Year Awards for 2021 today in conjunction with the organization’s 20th Annual Conference in Minneapolis, MN. The 2021 Recyclers of the Year are Georgia Carpet Recovery Center (East Point, GA) and GreenWaste Carpet Recycling (San Jose, CA). The 2021 Persons of the Year are Nick Fiore of Circular Polymers (Lincoln, CA) and Kent Singleton of Georgia Carpet Recovery Center. Executive Director Bob Peoples noted, “This year’s award winners have demonstrated true commitment in the face of relentless challenges. And many of those challenges continue to evolve today.”

 

2021 Recyclers of the Year:

Georgia Carpet Recovery Center
Founded by Amir Sahebivani in 1995, Georgia Carpet Recovery Center has been actively reducing landfill by providing cost-effective, environmentally-sound carpet and pad recycling services since 1995. In 2018 alone, the facility processed more than 18 million pounds of post-consumer carpet and carpet pad. “Georgia Carpet Recovery Center brought vital services to the heartland of the carpet recycling industry,” stated Bob Peoples. “They have evolved and adapted over the last 20 years to stay in business and exhibit the true entrepreneurial spirt on which this country is built.”

 

Wes Nelson of GreenWaste accepting award
Wes Nelson accepting for GreenWaste Carpet Recycling

GreenWaste Carpet Recycling

GreenWaste Recovery opened GreenWaste Carpet Recycling in 2012 to collect, analyze, sort and process post-consumer carpeting, foam carpet padding, commercial broadloom carpet and carpet tiles throughout Northern California. “GreenWaste Carpet Recycling is a vital partner to the California Carpet Stewardship Program,” said Bob Peoples. “Their state-of-the-art handling facility supports the aggressive growth we need to continue expanding this Program. The discipline they bring as a large player in the recycling, composting, and collection system are a critical contributor for support to the carpet recycling community.”

 

2021 Persons of the Year:

Nick Fiore of Circular Polymers accepting Person of the Year 2021

Nick Fiore is president of 2019 Recycler of the Year, Circular Polymers. Nick has been an active member of the carpet industry since 1997. He developed and evolved many carpet recycling technologies to explore best practices. As an entrepreneur and financier, Nick has owned and operated five carpet recycling facilities. Prior to carpet recycling, Nick owned and operated 2pl logistics companies. Nick leads Circular Polymers in their mission to revolutionize the post-consumer carpet recycling industry. He is an active member of CARE. “Nick brings a wealth of financial and logistical experience to the management team at Circular Polymers,” said Bob Peoples. “Under his watchful eye, Circular Polymers is the fastest growing carpet recycler in North America, bringing needed innovation to the challenges faced by this industry.”

 

Kent Singleton
Kent Singleton retired from General Motors in September 2006 after 32 years of service. He then joined Georgia Carpet Processing (later Georgia Carpet Recovery Center) with a mission to improve output and reduce the ash content from 15 percent. The production goals were achieved quickly, but it took over two years to reduce the ash content to less than 5 percent. Bob Peoples noted, “Kent demonstrates the true grit of an American entrepreneur. Under relentless pressure, he has steered his company through major market upheaval. Times are tough for carpet recycling and Kent has found innovation ways to keep the mission alive.”

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