Contact: Anthony Cline, Carpet America Recovery Effort (706) 428-2127
San Diego, CA (April 26, 2012) – At its Tenth Annual Conference, The Carpet America Recovery Effort honored two significant contributors to the success of carpet recycling and landfill diversion.
As Person of the Year, the CARE Board of Directors named fellow board member Larry Cook. Mr. Cook, who is Director of Manufacturing Initiatives and a plant manager with Beaulieu Group, has been active in CARE since 2010. In addition to his board duties, Mr. Cook also serves as Chairman of the CARE’s Stewardship Plan Committee. He was heavily involved in planning for the carpet industry’s implementation of California’s groundbreaking AB 2398 carpet recycling legislation. “Larry Cook has been a steadfast supporter of CARE and CARE’s mission – the landfill diversion of carpet. He has lent his significant leadership skills to several vital CARE committees – including the AB 2398 Communication Group. He is a generous volunteer who has given freely of his time and professional resources to help CARE take advantage of numerous strategic projects and opportunities,” said CARE Executive Director Georgina Sikorski.
The California-based firm The Carpet Recyclers was named as CARE’s Recycler of the Year for 2011. The outgrowth of a parent firm with twenty-plus years of experience in recycling, The Carpet Recyclers began by collecting carpet face fiber and then expanding in 2010 to include processing and recycling of the entire carpet – backing, filler, etc. To date, the company has created more than 100 green jobs and achieved a 90 percent processing rate. The company’s stated goal is to become zero-waste by 2013. The Carpet Recyclers projects it will process more than 70 million pounds of used carpet during the first year of operations in the company’s state-of-the-art facility in La Mirada, California, thereby saving more than 7 million gallons of oil, according to company estimates.
The company is currently exploring opportunities to construct additional facilities in the Western U.S. and expanding a pilot program for the diversion of commercial broadloom and carpet tiles from California landfills.
“As entrepreneurs and visionaries, The Carpet Recyclers invest time, people and finances to increase carpet recycling in California. Because of entrepreneurs like The Carpet Recyclers and others in California, we are making progress in meeting AB 2398 goals to reduce carpet going into California landfills, and in creating new products for consumers,” Ms. Sikorski said.
The awards were presented at CARE’s tenth Annual Members Conference held April 25 – 27 at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort.