Contact: Robert Peoples, Carpet America Recovery Effort (706) 428-2115
Charleston, SC, May 9, 2007 – Both Carpet Cycle and InterFace Flor were recognized recently as Recyclers of the Year by the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) at the organization’s Fifth Annual Conference at the historic Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, SC.
As part of the fifth year anniversary of the non-profit organization, this year’s recycler of the year award was divided into a large company division and a small company division for the first time in an effort to better recognize the drivers behind this new industry of post-consumer carpet recycling.
Lorence Moot, executive vice president of Project Consultants & Associates, was also honored as this year’s recipient of the prestigious Care Person of the Year at the gala.
It was also announced in the 2006 Annual Report that 261 million pounds of carpet was reported diverted from landfills in 2006, with 240 million pounds of that being recycled.
Carpet America Recovery Effort 2006 Annual Report (1.74 MB)
InterFace Flor, headquartered in LaGrange, Ga., took home the large company category thanks to their Evergreen and Mission0 Programs. As an alternative to a conventional purchase of flooring needs, the Evergreen Program allows InterFace customers the option to “lease” the services of a modular carpet system without taking ownership or liability for the disposition of the products at the end of their useful life.
“Interface has been recognized for their visionary efforts in sustainability for many years. Innovations like Cool Blue©, Evergreen carpet leasing and Mission0 are among the many programs that has enabled Interface to implement their outstanding recycling efforts,” said Robert Peoples, CARE Executive Director.
Under the terms of the Evergreen Program, Interface has a clear and perpetual responsibility for the on-site condition of the carpet and its eventual and environmentally correct disposal or re-use. Returns are ground into a powder for injection and molding processes or can be recycled into Interface backing structures via mixing and extrusion systems.
The goals of the Evergreen Program are to save non-renewable natural resources, extend the useful life of the product, create a closed loop sustainable industry standard and shoulder a “cradle to cradle” responsibility for the manufacturer, installation, use and recycling of the product.
Interface is a company that has long been recognized as a leader in the green movement. In the past two years Interface has reported more than 16 million pounds per year of landfill diversion and in 2006 85% of that was recycled into new carpet tile under their Cool Blue© program. Since the beginning of their efforts Interface has diverted more than 115 million pounds of old carpet.
Joining Interface on center stage for their recycling efforts was Carpet Cycle, out of Elizabeth, NJ. Carpet Cycle is the brain child of Sean Ragiel, who officially opened his operations in 1999 and recycled 800,000 pounds of residential carpet and pad his first year.
Since then, his operation has expanded to include 17 employees and now rips-up and recycles 15,000 to 20,000 square yards of commercial carpet a month. In addition, Carpet Cycle collects and handles another 20,000 square yards ripped up by others. The company has been averaging 700,000 pounds per month of residential carpet and broadloom and that volume is steadily increasing as more retailers want to recycle post-consumer carpet and save money at the same time.
“CarpetCycle is an excellent example of the entrepreneurial spirit that has made this country great,” said Peoples.
“It is great to be recognized by CARE for all of our hard work and dedication over the past 9 years. CarpetCycle will continue to strive to meet the challenges of recycling carpet in order to further the goals of CARE and the overall recycling industry,” said Sean Ragiel, President of CarpetCycle, in picking up the honor.
Honored alongside the recycling giants at last night’s awards banquet was Moot, a familiar face in the recycling industry. Moot was named CARE’s Person of the Year for his tireless efforts in the field of carpet recovery.
Moot started his career in th carpet industry after graduating from the University of Florida. He worked for Milliken and Company where he installed Millitron technology around the world. He also worked for Collins & Aikman rising to to level of technical director before becoming President of Controls and Drives, Inc. in 1995.
Soon after that Moot joined Project Consultants & Associates, a consulting firm with a wide range of clients both within and outside the carpet industry. He has worked on some of the first and best recycling engineering and logistics programs in several industries.
“Larry is the “go to guy” to many people within this new industry and that is especially true for me. I have been working with this engineer for about 10 years and he never ceases to amaze me with his depth and breadth of knowledge, truly a rare combination. He is a world class engineer and was working on ‘green projects’ long before it was the popular thing to do,” said Peoples in making the announcement.
“Your contribution to this industry is an example of your professionalism. All of us at Project Consultants & Associates offer you our sincere congratulations, and frankly, we are not surprised about this award. You have helped PC&A attain a higher level of service to our clients and your example has helped your associates reach higher in their personal achievements,” said Larry Umsteadter, President of Project Consultants and Associates. “Larry, you have been a trailblazer in helping our carpet manufacturing clients become more sustainable and have helped them discover and identify assets that they did not realize they already had.”