Recycle Your Carpet

Truth is: We use thousands of recycled products that could easily incorporate old carpet into the recycle stream.

So why don't we?

The current most popular way to dispose of carpet (over 90%) is landfills. (According to research completed by Carpet Recovery Incorporated)

And we were worried about tiny little trash bags not being biodegradable?

So what exactly can be done?

Follow along with me to several industries who are already taking these steps to recycle or up-cycle old carpeting into new products.

An innovative, yet surprisingly for many of you who just thought that "carpet baggers" was just a name for the money grubbing opportunists who invaded the South after the American Civil War was over spreading mythical cures and impossible money making... hmmm. Wow, we call them spammers now... heheh

Anyway...

Carpet Burns has a good deal of interesting products. From magazine racks, coasters, and note books, but new products are at the fore-front of what they do.

Using a process that they have dubbed Heat Treating Carpet or HTC they take used or discarded remnants of carpet and turn it into a product that can be used in kitchens, bathrooms, bars, restaurants, flat-packed furniture, flooring (screed and tile), staircases, shop fittings, seating, architectural features, paneling, wall tiles and molded consumables. Actually the possibilities are endless.

Their own research bares out: "Carpet waste accounts for an estimated 2% of all land filled waste although as a percentage this is not high; carpet has a high volume to weight. Carpet typically lasts for 7-10 years (residential) or 5-8 years (commercial).
Re-carpeting accounts for 55% of all carpet sold. It is estimated that carpet can take up to two hundred and fifty thousand years to bio degrade."

* HTC is the only material of its kind - made from 100% recycled-carpet
* Material can be molded into any 3D form
* Lightweight
* Carpet resumes new properties becoming waterproof, durable and hard wearing
* HTC is low maintenance
* Can be shaped with common woodworking tools
* HTC is non-porous with a very high resistance to staining
* Suitable for interior and exterior applications
* Available in various thicknesses including 3mm, 9mm, 12mm, 15mm, and 18mm
* No glues, resins or stabilizers are used in the production of HTC

Their website can be found at Carpet-Burns.com

From GeoHay's website:

"GeoHay is an environmentally friendly line of barrier filtration products which aid in the control of erosion and sediment. Our products are produced with 100% recycled carpet fibers and can be reused over and over again. GeoHay has been proven to be more efficient and more cost effective than silt fence or natural hay bales. Our products are produced in standard sizes, but can also be ordered to fit the specific needs of our customers. All GeoHay products come with precut stake holes for easy installation and are non-biodegradable.

"TRI Environmental, Inc. of Austin, Texas completed testing four configurations of GeoHay in comparison with major competitors' products. Results from the test according to ASTM D Standard 5141 clearly indicates that GeoHay products signicantly outperform the other major erosion contorl products where it counts, filtering effeciency and tubidity removal."

What all of that means is, they take carpet and use it in construction areas or areas where erosion is threatening to eat away precious top soil.

The products that have been used in the past have been actual straw hay bales or plastic silt liners. You have probably seen both used at construction sites, especially on highway building projects before the grass has been seeded to keep the seed from being washed away.

The GeoHay products can be cleaned and reused or recycled into other products later.

For more visit their site at GeoHay.com

"As a structural material, Nycon's reinforcing fibers allow products to withstand the forces of nature for decades. Now, with NyconG fibers, your products are kinder to nature than ever before. In addition to superior three-dimensional fiber reinforcement, NyconG provides an environmentally sound choice for globally responsible, truly sustainable construction.

"Proven effective in countless applications, NyconG fibers are made from 100% recycled nylon from reclaimed carpet. For years little has been done with carpet waste besides throwing it away. Today, thanks to an advanced patented technology (U.S. Patent #6,971,784, other US and foreign patents pending), Nycon "harvests" carpet waste, much like an agricultural asset. Carpet once taken to landfills is now a resource for producing our proprietary, high-value reinforcing fibers. And more than just conserving landfill space, recycling carpet saves water and reduces carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.

"Along with outstanding performance properties at reduced cost, NyconG fibers provide a further incentive to "go green" : They facilitate the process of obtaining project certification by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Program, as well as provide tax credits to architects and owners.

"Green" is not a cliché and climate change is serious business. Everybody and everything can make a difference in the Green Revolution, and Nycon is committed to making a difference. We do this by reducing our reliance on scarce resources, extending the useful life of our reinforcing products--and now, with environmentally friendly NyconG fibers, reducing energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and landfill waste."

All from their "awesome" website!

I-Rock uses the same basic principle as Carpet Burns to create substrate panels that are capable of being decorative sound proofing barriers. If you are trying to get rid of highway noise then I-Rock Components has a fence for you.

They can be contacted by email

Established in 1983 by Stan & Ronald Greitzer, Los Angeles Fiber quickly became the largest recycler of carpet and textile materials on the West Coast. If the Pasadena Rose Bowl was a land fill, Los Angeles Fiber diverts enough material to fill three Rose Bowls in one year.

* Manufactured from 100% post-consumer pull-up carpet. Specification of these cushion products can help keep up to 5 billion pounds of pull-up carpet annually from being disposed of in our landfills.
* By specifying any of these cushion products, one can obtain maximum credits in the "Recycled Content" portion of LEED vs. specifying other fiber cushions.
* Our raw material (pull-up carpet) utilized to manufacture the carpet cushion products comes from California. Additionally, our cushion products which incorporate these raw materials are also manufactured in California. Raw materials used to manufacture other cushion products originate from all over the United States and or from over-seas sources. Consequently, freight and transportation cost issues are significantly greater with other cushions.
* Post-industrial carpet fiber is currently in short supply. Manufacturers of carpet are using their own waste. Thus, shortages of post-industrial fiber have resulted in substantial price increases. Cushion products made from post industrial material are projected to increase in selling price. Conversely, there is an abundant supply of post-consumer material. 100% post consumer synthetic carpet cushion products are available without any compromise in quality and or cost.
* By specifying 100% post-consumer content carpet cushion, it becomes signifcantly more difficult for competition to substitute their post industrial cushion on a "100% post consumer content" specified application.

ON A ROLL - THE INVISTA CARPET RECLAMATION PROGRAM

In 1991, INVISTA initiated a program to find new ways to put used carpet back to work. We led a group of concerned carpet manufacturers, flooring contractors, specifiers and end users in founding the INVISTA Carpet Reclamation Program.

As the first nationwide carpet reclamation program that recycles all types of carpet, since 2001 the INVISTA Carpet Reclamation Program has collected over 65 million pounds of carpet, resulting in more than 120,000 cubic yards of conserved landfill space.

Knowing how important it is for our customers to understand the truth behind our published information, we sought a recognized third party organization to verify our reclamation statements. In 2002, the INVISTA Carpet Reclamation Center in Calhoun, Georgia became the first carpet reclamation facility to be certified as a carpet reclamation and processing facility under Scientific Certification Systems' Environmental Claims Certification Program. And, after a second rigorous evaluation, the INVISTA Carpet Reclamation Center was recertified in 2004.

In addition to the INVISTA Carpet Reclamation Center, a number of the recycled products that are produced using recycled material from the center were also certified. Some of the products that are certified to contain post-consumer recycled content are EcoSoft carpet cushion and the feedstock materials that go into other products like carpet engineering resins, automotive parts, and natural turf based roofing tiles. Additional products that are made from recycled carpet include furniture, pallets, filtration pipes, stepping stones, ceramic tile backer boards and carpet-based boards.

INVISTA is a registered trademark of Antron.