Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE)

In a major advance for industry and the circular economy, a team of recycling industry veterans have formed a new company, Circular Polymers, to supply the chemical recycling industry with consistent, high quality feedstock made from post-consumer carpet and other plastic destined for landfill. Circular Polymers' new facility in Lincoln, California will process some 30 million pounds of carpet per year, with plans to expand further.

On February 20th, California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) Director Scott Smithline approved the most recent Five-Year Plan submitted by Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE). 

The Annual Report, released this month by the Carpet America Recovery Effort, reports that CARE members diverted more than 488 million pounds of carpet from U.S. landfills in 2016, down nearly 6% from 2015. Of the carpet diverted to recycling, 167 million lbs. were recycled into carpet and other consumer products, 174 million lbs. were sent back to the landfill, and 144 million lbs. were sent to waste-to-energy and cement kilns.

The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) and the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) has announced an extension of the voluntary product stewardship (VPS) Program is to assist sorters of post-consumer carpet diverted from the nation's landfills. After having supported the program for two years, 2015 and 2016, this extension will provide funding for one additional year through 2017.

The Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), which develops new processes, products, equipment and markets that reuse the valuable raw materials of post-consumer carpet, recently awarded Aquafil USA the CARE Recycler of the Year, for Aquafil's historic and continuous consumption of post-consumer nylon 6 carpet across the USA.

Carpet America Recovery Effort's (CARE) Annual Conference takes place from May 18-19 in Greenville, South Carolina. According to the association, this year's event will give attendees the opportunity to discuss innovations made in the carpet recycling industry, learn about new and existing products that are produced with post-consumer carpet, developments in the carpet industry, the Voluntary Product Stewardship (VPS) program and more. 

The Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) has announced the formation of the California Council on Carpet Recycling (Carpet Council), an 18-member advisory group, selected to provide guidance to CARE on California's carpet recycling efforts. The Council represents diverse stakeholders from across the state and carpet recycling industry, including carpet retailers and installers; collectors, haulers and processors of recycled carpet; manufacturers of products made from recycled carpet; as well as non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and local government agencies.

Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), the primary non-profit organization charged with advancing market-based solutions for carpet recycling and landfill diversion, has reported a more than 52 percent increase in U.S. gross post-consumer carpet collections from 2012 to 2013. As revealed in the organization's 2013 Annual Report, CARE partners have diverted 534 million pounds of carpet, or 14 percent of the 3.7 billion pounds of total discarded carpet, from landfills last year.