If you’re looking into recycling your old carpet or you are considering buying recycled carpet, Metro Atl. Floors is happy to shed some light on the topic. Read on for a primer on recycled carpet.
How to Recycle Your Old Carpet
If you’re getting ready to recycle your old floor carpet, there’s an industry/government group that you should know about. The name of this group is the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE). Thanks to CARE, you may be able to recycle carpet you once would have thrown away.
CARE brings together a nationwide network of recyclers that turn old carpet into raw materials for new products like carpet padding and compost lumber. It costs you about 5 to 25 cents per pound to recycle your carpet. But CARE is in its infancy, and as more recyclers join CARE these costs will probably drop. CARE recyclers are currently in 26 states. Visit CARE for up to date listings and maps. Be sure and ask your carpet dealer if there are any carpet recyclers in your town.
Individual carpet companies are pitching in as well. Many carpet manufacturers have lines that feature recycled content. Some will even let you ship back old rugs or samples free of charge. A few of these manufacturers are listed below:
• Flor: This company allows homeowners to ship old Flor carpet tiles free of charge to the company’s recycling facilities. Flor’s Fedora line uses postconsumer fibers to make new carpet tiles.
• Milliken: Milliken uses 33 percent recycled content in its Tesserae carpet tile.
• Mohawk: Their Everstrand carpet fiber uses polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from recycled plastic bottles. This represents 100 percent postconsumer recycled content.
The Benefits of Using Recycled Carpet Tiles
Recycled carpet tiles are made by grinding up used vinyl and nylon carpeting. With some brands, the carpet backing and the carpet surface both contain recycled material. Here are the main benefits of using recycled carpet tiles:
• They’re environmentally friendly. They are made from carpet which would have gone to landfills. They also save the resources used to make new carpeting. Their modularity means less waste during installation. Finally, when they are replaced they can be recycled again and used to make new carpeting.
• Improved indoor air quality. Traditional carpeting with materials that contain toxic petroleum-based chemicals that permeate the home. Recycled tiles, on the other hand, are made from recycled materials that don’t contain these toxic chemicals.
• Longevity. Recycled tiles are very durable. Their modularity also allows homeowners to replace individual tiles as necessary instead of having to replace the whole carpet.
• Flexibility of design. Individual tiles can be mixed and matched to create custom area rugs and wall to wall carpeting. Recycled tiles are available in many colors, sizes, and textures. And more options are becoming available all the time.
The recycled carpet movement is under a full head of steam. CARE is experiencing huge growth. The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) has been in favor of proposed extended producer responsibility for a long time now.
Recycled carpet is here to stay. It’s never been easier for you to recycle your old carpet or to buy recycled carpet for your home.