CARE report details progress in carpet recycling rates, technological advances

Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) has released its 2019 Annual Report detailing the carpet recycling industry's progress despite growing headwinds in 2020.

In 2019, CARE administered a $35 million operational budget, comprising core operations to serve its members, along with the Voluntary Product Stewardship Program (VPS) and the California Carpet Stewardship Program. Progress in 2019 included: 

 Voluntary Product program highlights

• More than $2 million was paid in VPS subsidies in 2019.
• Total gross U.S. collections were 335 million pounds, up from 281 million pounds in 2018.
• 98% of the post-consumer carpet collected was processed in the United States.

California Carpet Stewardship Program highlights

• 82.1 million pounds of post-consumer carpet was collected before it could go to landfill.
• 58 million pounds of recycled output was produced (up 18% from the 49.3 million pounds recycled in 2018).
• The overall 2019 California carpet recycling rate was 19.1%, up 25% versus 2018.

Positive news in 2019 included new members joining the recycling effort, new technology introduced, and new products being developed and brought to market. Of particular note is the advance of chemical recycling and the volume of recycled material it could command once fully implemented. 

The report also includes a brief update on events in 2020, summarized as follows.  

"Unfortunately, the carpet industry was not immune to the recession, which resulted in plant closures and more than 10,000 jobs lost or furloughed. A difficult decision was made by the carpet industry leadership to terminate the VPS program effective June 30, 2020 to help offset lost revenues. This challenge is compounded by the potential for additional COVID-19 impacts as the economy moves to restart in the later part of Q2. Of equal concern is the loss of carpet recyclers and associated infrastructure during this recession."

 See the full CARE 2019 Annual Report here.