How to Recycle Carpet

The chemical compounds that make up carpet fibers are valuable to recyclers. Even 30-year-old carpet.

It’s rare to see anyone choose to throw away a plastic bottle if a recycling bin is nearby. Unfortunately, it’s still common to see carpet waiting curbside for a trip to the landfill. Few Americans know how to recycle carpet but many are starting to learn. At their core, the synthetic fibers that make up the majority of carpets are plastics, and the components of these fibers are just as reusable as those in a soda bottle — in many cases, even more so. With this in mind, carpet recycling should be as common as plastics recycling.

Indeed, the interest in recycling carpet stems from the chemical compounds that make up the carpet fibers. According to Russ DeLozier, manager of materials reclamation at Shaw Floors in Dalton, Ga., the primary compound in carpet fiber, as with most plastics, is hydrocarbon, which is commonly drawn from fossil fuels.

“Hydrocarbons are limited resources,” he says. “The truth is we should recycle any limited resource.”

What does it become?
For DeLozier, the goal of recycling carpet is for his company to beget more carpet. The benefit is twofold: manufacturers don’t have to turn to virgin materials to create more carpet, and all the old carpet, with its reusable hydrocarbons, doesn’t end up going to waste.

“This material will not degrade in the landfill,” says Georgina Sikorski, executive director of Carpet America Recovery Effort, an organization dedicated to diverting carpets from landfills and increase the recycling and reuse of carpets. “So it really helps us reduce the amount of space we are taking up for landfills.”
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Source: Mother Nature Network
By Layla Bellows