Dive Brief:

• The Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), a non-profit that promotes carpet recycling, reports a 52% increase in U.S. post-consumer carpet collections from 2012 to 2013.
• CARE's 2013 Annual Report notes that groups partnering with CARE diverted 534 million pounds of carpet, or 14% of the total amount of carpet thrown into landfills in 2013. The total amount thrown into landfills last year weighed in at 3.7 billion pounds.
• Last year also saw an 87% increase in post-consumer carpet returning to carpet face fiber; this amount comprised 28% of the total volume recycled. 17% of post-consumer carpet was integrated into carpet backing. 

Dive Insight:

Since the organization was founded in 2002, CARE has diverted over 3.25 billion pounds of post-consumer carpeting from US landfills. CARE is working to continue to increase the diversion rate for carpet, despite challenges in recycling efforts due to the rise of PET carpet found in the collection stream (PET carpet now accounts for 34% of the total of all carpet diverted). Carpets collected that are made from nylon fibers represented 53% of the total stream.

Other companies are increasing efforts to recycle carpet fibers. In June, Shaw Industries Group announced expansion plans for its carpet recycling and reclamation program. The carpet manufacturer has reportedly recycled 700 million pounds of carpet fibers since the program began in 2006. RES Polyflow, a designer and manufacturer that converts plastic waste into energy, announced a project to transform carpet into fuel in July 2012.