Carpet America Recovery Effort

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

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California Program: Q3 2021 Results Show Progress

Following on a solid performance in Q1 and Q2 2021, the California Program’s recycling rate for Q3 2021 was 28 percent, indicating that CARE could meet its target of 26 percent for the year – a major program accomplishment. The recycling rate is based on the amount of carpet recycled as a percent of carpet discarded, not as a percent of carpet collected. In Q3, 78% of carpet collected was recycled.
  • Gross collection increased to 24.9 million pounds for Q3.
  • However, recycler costs have escalated dramatically for transportation, labor, utilities and lease rates.
  • Subsidies paid to recyclers reached over $6.1 million.
View the quarterly presentation:

 

One Billion Pounds of Carpet Collected in California: A Milestone

carpet being torn out as 1 billion pound milestone reached
As America Recycles Day approaches on November 15, CARE has now passed the one billion pound milestone for gross collection of old carpet in California since the start of the California Carpet Stewardship Program in 2011. This hard-to-recycle product, made largely from fossil fuels, presents many challenges for collection and recycling, but at a time when many other materials’ recycling rates are declining, one billion pounds collected demonstrates remarkable progress.

 

“At a time of strain on the recycling industry, this milestone is an amazing accomplishment that is due to the hard work and dedication of retailers, contractors and recyclers across the state,” noted CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples. “This is one billion pounds of material that would have gone to waste and instead will see new life in new products. We are delighted to announce this landmark in conjunction with America Recycles Day.”

 

Carpet can be recycled when properly prepared and brought to a drop-off site that takes carpet for processing and recycling. The challenge is capturing the carpet for recycling before it goes to landfill. The California Carpet Stewardship Program works to increase collection of carpet by enabling and encouraging carpet collection from homeowners, contractors, retailers and collector/sorters. CARE also supports the development of markets for recycled carpet material, which is now included in a variety of products, including automotive parts, house trim and siding, insulation, accessibility ramps, even bullet-resistant walls and doors.

 

CARE’s California carpet collection efforts are funded through an assessment paid by consumers on every square yard of carpet sold in the state, as passed into law (AB 2398) in 2010.

Four New Capital Grants to Fund Collection/Recycling

CARE’s California Carpet Stewardship Program has awarded four additional grants, totaling $1.14 million, through its 2021 Capital Improvements cycle (labeled Cycle 5A). Cycle 5A funds are designated for infrastructure to establish and improve California-sourced post-consumer carpet (PCC) collection, processing and manufacturing into end products.

Cycle 5A awardees are:

  • Circular Polymers in Lincoln, CA ($450,000) for additional equipment to process commercial broadloom carpet and tile, including traditionally hard-to-recycle polyurethane-backed tile.
  • Hayward Transfer Station in Hayward, CA ($50,000) for additional containers to service flooring retailers in the Bay Area.
  • Aquafil Carpet Recycling 2 in Woodland, CA ($192,000) for the purchase of equipment that will improve its PET material for a wider variety of end markets.
  • RISE Composite Technologies in Mankato, MN ($450,000) for equipment that will assist a California processor in shipping significant quantities of PCC to its manufacturing facility, which produces a wide variety of consumer building products.

These new capital projects anticipate recycling or collecting an additional 15 million pounds of PCC annually once fully operational.

For more information about CARE’s grant program, please visit our California grants webpage.

CalRecycle Actions on Recent CARE Documents – Correction

The following is a corrected version of an article that ran in the September e-news:

On August 27th CalRecycle’s Director signed a Request for Approval (RFA) with the following results:

  • Conditional approval of the Carpet Differential Assessment Plan with requirements to be addressed within 60 days (October 26th).
  • Convenient Collection Plan did not meet requirements, therefore CalRecycle staff were directed to adjust the program goals.

The documents that CARE submitted can be found here and CalRecycle’s  RFA can be downloaded here.

CARE is revising its Carpet Differential Assessment Plan and will resubmit it to CalRecycle by October 26th.

CARE Thanks Jacy Bolden; California Program Director Position Available

CARE thanks Jacy Bolden for her sterling work as California Program Director.

CARE California Program Director Jacy Bolden will be leaving her position at the end of this month. CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples commented “Jacy has done a wonderful job over her more than three years with CARE. Her quick study, no-nonsense approach and deep understanding has helped us achieve many of our objectives. She was offered an outstanding career opportunity and we wish her all the best – she will really be missed.”

The California Program Director position is open for applicants. Qualified and interested candidates are invited to see the full position description and application link here.

CARE intends to fill the opening as soon as a qualified candidate can be selected. Until that time, CARE is pleased to announce that Grants Manager Abbie Beane will serve in the position of Interim California Program Director as of October 1 and can be reached at ABeane@CarpetRecovery.org.

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