Blog – Page 5

California Carpet Stewardship Program Advisory Committee Appointed

December 21, 2017

UPDATED December 22, 2017

In December 2017 CalRecycle Director Scott Smithline was presented with suggested appointments to the new Carpet Stewardship Program Advisory Committee. The Committee is being formed as a requirement of the recently-passed AB 1158, and will serve to review stewardship organization plans, amendments and annual reports. CARE is required to incorporate or respond to Advisory Committee comments. On December 22, following the CalRecycle Public Meeting on December 19, Director Smithline approved the slate of names below.

In October 2017, AB 1158 (Carpet Recycling, Chapter 794, Statutes of 2017) was signed into law, which makes changes to the Product Stewardship for Carpets Law that will become effective January 1, 2018. Some of the key elements of AB 1158 include:

The establishment of a recycling rate goal of 24% by January 1, 2020;
The authority for CalRecycle to establish additional recycling rate and program goals and request information in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the program;
The requirement that post- consumer carpet removed from state buildings be managed in a manner consistent with the law and revisions to state procurement manuals to require post-consumer content for carpet purchases
The requirement that the director of CalRecycle appoints members to an Advisory Committee to make recommendations on carpet stewardship plans, plan amendments, and annual reports

The approved Committee members are:

Brent Whitener, Humboldt Waste Management Authority
Doug Kobold, Sacramento County Department of Waste Management and Recycling
Douglas Williams, Los Angeles Fiber Co.
Eric Nelson, Interface
Franco Rossi, Aquafil USA
Gail Brice, XT Green
Howard Sapper, Carpet Manufacturers Warehouse
Joanne Brasch, California Product Stewardship Council
Joe Yarbrough, The Carpet and Rug Institute
John Davis, Mojave Desert …
Kelly McBee, Californians Against Waste
Rachel Palopoli, Planet Recycling
Steve Belong, Carpet, Linoleum & Soft Tile Workers Local Union No. 12 District Council 16
Wes Nelson, GreenWaste Carpet Recycling
Speaker of the Assembly Appointee
Senate Committee on Rules Appointee

Committee members are not compensated. The Committee’s first meeting is expected to take place in early January 2018. The full Advisory Committee Request for Approval is on CalRecycle’s website.

CARE Grant Case Study: SafePath Products

December 4, 2017

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

SafePath Products received a CARE grant to begin manufacturing products comprised of post-consumer carpet backing (known as post-consumer carpet calcium carbonate, or PC4) and other recycled materials at its Northern California facility. Later, operations were moved into a new, expanded facility more than double in size. Carpet backing in the form of fine granules is mixed with recycled rubber to manufacture commercial ADA-compliant ramps, transitions, landscaping edging and other products. Grant-funded equipment included presses and molds. SafePath Products is also a manufacturer of Double Green^TM products, which incorporate California post-consumer carpet and at least one other recycled material.

LOCATION

Chico, CA

TIMELINE

April 2016-March 2017

CARE GRANT AMOUNT

$462,000

Cycle 1A Capital Improvements grant funding covered 55-65% of the project start-up costs.

TOP 3 PROJECT CHALLENGES

Obtaining all necessary components for the operation, such as hoppers, mixers and conveyor belts.
Synchronizing shipping, installation and testing for infrastructure improvements.
Trial and error testing to achieve the necessary product performance.

GRANT BENEFITS

Grant funding for equipment freed up other monies and created new market opportunities, allowing SafePath to move into an expanded facility.
Funding facilitated collaboration with new business partners at conferences and through other avenues.
CARE offers technical assistance.
CARE develops Double Green^TM certification to assist in marketing plan.
SafePath Products notes that the carpet recycling industry is small but has advanced significantly in the last three years.

“While we are grateful for the monies provided by the CARE grant, we feel we had a hand in earning (the grant) by our commitment to serve those with disabilities while utilizing materials destined for the landfill. We have also developed a robust marketing program selling into various market channels. We are committed to continuing our mission to utilize recycled feedstock in all our products, and make this planet a little greener with every project.”

–Tim Vander Heiden, President, SafePath Products

IMPLEMENTATION

Securing new expanded facility.
Securing new equipment for expansion.
Finding additional experienced operations staff in electrical, mechanical, molding and construction fields.
Reworking manufacturing formulas (ie: production, cook times, additives).
Continued attention to minimizing carbon footprint through solar array, energy efficiency efforts, solid waste reduction and employee ride sharing. (CoolCalifornia Small Business Awards Program applicant)

PROJECT IMPACT

Roughly 2 million pounds of recycled output annually.
Eight new California jobs added since spring 2016.
Demonstrating the viability of more environmentally friendly recycled-content products.
Development of several new products in architectural door and hardware industry, using California-generated PC4.
Expanded customer and business partner bases.

Visit our Post Consumer Carpet Products page.

Visit the CARE grants page.

This is one of a series of case studies that illustrate the impact of grant funding on the carpet recycling industry in California.
CARE will offer a Cycle 2 round of grants to support capital improvements and product testing in late 2017. Sign up for updates here.

Other Grantee Case Studies:

CARE Grantee Case Study: CLEAR

CARE Grantee Case Study: GHD, Inc.

CARE Grantee Case Study: Sierra Mat & Rubber

CARE Grant Case Study: GHD, Inc.

November 25, 2017

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

GHD, Inc. engineering firm, in partnership with Humboldt State University, received CARE grant funding to test post-consumer PET carpet for use in civil engineering applications. The work included testing of physical properties as well as testing water quality in contact with post-consumer carpet over time periods between two and six months. The feasibility study revealed three optimal civil applications for PET in the form of post-consumer shredded carpet or carpet fibers. These applications must undergo a Phase II pilot project study before California public projects are feasible.

LOCATION

Santa Rosa, CA and Arcata, CA

TIMELINE

April 2016-March 2017

CARE GRANT AMOUNT

$145,984

Grant funding covered 100% of the project costs.

PROJECT CHALLENGES

Designing new equipment for testing physical properties.
Trimming carpet into manageable sizes for testing and un-baling carpet fibers for testing.
Applications will be new and challenging to market, even if proven.
Post-consumer carpet will contain different materials depending on the environments with which it was in contact.
More testing is needed to support feasibility study.
Finding sources of data and projects similar to this project. There is surprisingly little information relating to reuse of PET carpet fibers and material properties. New applications usually require an understanding of the material in question, and finding the information is a challenge. If the data needed cannot be found, it must be developed.

GRANT BENEFITS

CARE technical assistance.
Partnership developed with complementary local university.
Funding for testing of more recycled products in the marketplace.
CARE connected project to researchers that had tackled similar issues with different material, or same material but for different applications. Also connected project to a chemistry professional to explain chemical makeup of the material to help GHD define knowledge still needed.

“The CARE grant provided the means for us to develop a much better understanding of the (post-consumer carpet) material from a properties perspective as well as a platform for developing informed decisions regarding the direction of future work and market development. This has helped us find potential outlets for a material traditionally very difficult to categorize and market.”

–Joaquin Wright, Senior Project Engineer, GHD, Inc.

IMPLEMENTATION

Securing new partnerships.
Examining existing research on PET carpet properties and its behaviors in civil engineering applications.
Securing all equipment/materials and experienced staff. To complete the feasibility study, the project used expertise from civil engineers, environmental engineers, chemistry engineers, construction managers and general contractors familiar with implementation of civil engineering projects.
Testing physical properties and quality of water leachate soaked with post-consumer carpet. Comparing water quality tests to California and national maximum contamination levels.
Drawing comparisons to recycled tire-derived aggregate.
Drawing conclusions regarding optimal civil applications for PET carpet and developing recommendations for next testing steps.
Writing draft and final reports.

PROJECT IMPACT

Demonstrating the viability of more environmentally friendly recycled products.
A new level of knowledge gained on PET material properties and potential uses. There is now information on material components in various forms, which leads to a much better understanding of what type of products and/or applications may benefit from using different forms of recycled PET carpet. This knowledge allows projects to look toward specific uses which will have a much higher likelihood of adoption in the marketplace and increasing the use of recycled PET content.

Visit our Post Consumer Carpet Products page.

Visit the CARE grants page.

CARE Grant Case Study: CLEAR

November 16, 2017

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Carpet Landfill Elimination and Recycling (CLEAR) received a CARE grant to purchase equipment for a new Northern California facility, which would process PET and polypropylene post-consumer carpet fibers. Processed fibers are made into pellets and sold to various companies for automotive, hardware, insulation and other products. CLEAR has also begun processing carpet backing, outside of the grant project scope.

LOCATION: Lincoln, CA

TIMELINE: April 2016-December 2017

CARE GRANT AMOUNT: $500,000

✔ Grant funding covered 25% of the project start-up costs.

PROJECT CHALLENGES

✔ Financing.

✔ Procuring the right equipment of various types.

✔ Finding reasonable space and power.

✔ Access to labor.

✔ Finding reasonable distance to raw goods.

✔ Uncertainty, while customers may promise to take all of your goods, partnerships could take years to develop.

✔ A trial run positive result does not guarantee success at a production scale level.

✔ Carpet that was produced 5-20 years ago by various mills is difficult to remanufacture and sell as a consistent product.

✔ Finding a good quality control manager to retain customer base. “Trying to sell a recycled product in a market where virgin material is relatively very cheap requires consistent quality and a reasonable price along with the incentives to begin a business relationship. One inconsistent load can lose a customer.”

GRANT BENEFITS

✔ CARE technical assistance: CARE facilitates business relationships for facility start-up, product development, and product expansion.

IMPLEMENTATION

✔ Securing appropriate facility.

✔ Securing all equipment.

✔ Testing equipment and getting it to work consistently and reliably.

✔ Reworking manufacturing process.

✔ Building product customer base.

✔ Meeting environmental standards.

PROJECT IMPACT

✔ 12 million pounds of processed output in first 6 months (as reported by grantee).

✔ 10 new California jobs in first 6 months.

✔ Demonstrated viability of more environmentally friendly feedstock products.

✔ 600,000 MTCO2e, assuming all polypropylene carpet was manufactured into engineered resin.

✔ CARE grants enabled CLEAR to build a line and develop markets for its PCC goods, which are manufactured into new products for sport surfaces, padding, engineered resins and other products.

CARE Grantee Case Study: Sierra Mat & Rubber

November 10, 2017

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Sierra Mat & Rubber received a CARE grant to begin manufacturing products comprised of post-consumer carpet backing and other recycled materials at its existing Northern California facility. Carpet backing in the form of a calcium carbonate sand is mixed with recycled rubber to manufacture commercial floor mats, landscape pavers, wheel stops and other products. Grant-funded equipment included presses, molds and a calcium carbonate bagger to transport the carpet backing material from the manufacturing facility to various California job sites. Sierra Mat & Rubber also became the first manufacturer of Double Green^TM products, which incorporate post-consumer carpet and one other recycled material.

LOCATION: Ripon, CA

TIMELINE: April 2016-December 2017

CARE GRANT AMOUNT$218,500 ✔ Grant funding covered 40% of the project start-up costs.

PROJECT CHALLENGES

✔ Recycled-content products are new to the market.

✔ Products are still undergoing testing and development.

✔ The largest challenge is the sieve size of the calcium carbonate. The material is fine and dusty. Sierra has changed its existing material handling systems to deal with the dust factor.

✔ Securing continued support for testing and market development.

GRANT BENEFITS

✔ CARE technical assistance.

✔ CARE facilitates business relationships for product line expansion and development.

✔ CARE develops Double GreenTM certification to assist in marketing plan.

✔ A CARE grant has allowed Sierra to lower its raw material cost in order to be more cost-competitive. The equipment has allowed Sierra the ability to produce larger mats, which require more PCC material and enable Sierra to enter commercial markets.

IMPLEMENTATION

✔ Expanding new facility.

✔ Securing all equipment and additional experienced operations staff.

✔ Reworking manufacturing process.

✔ Testing new products while continuing to manufacture other products that use California-generated post-consumer carpet.

✔ Building product customer base and marketing strategy.

✔ Meeting environmental and product standards.

PROJECT IMPACT

✔ 1.4 million pounds of recycled output in first 6 months (as reported by grantee).

✔ 4 new California jobs in first 6 months.

✔ Demonstrated viability of more environmentally friendly recycled-content products.

✔ Development of four new products using California-generated post-consumer carpet backing material.

Visit our Post Consumer Carpet Products page. PCC products: Visit the CARE Grants page.

California Carpet Stewardship Program Advisory Committee Appointed

CARE Grant Case Study: SafePath Products

CARE Grant Case Study: GHD, Inc.