Boulder to Begin Carpet Recycling

Boulder, CO, April 23, 2007--Boulder residents disposing of carpet no longer have to haul it off to a landfill, according to the Daily Camera. Under a new city-sponsored pilot program, old carpet could end up being recycled.

The newspaper quoted Adam Stenftenagel, a spokesman for the Center for ReSource Conservation - which will be collecting the unwanted material – as saying that there always has been a huge demand for carpet recycling from builders and people remodeling their houses.

Several people already have dropped off rugs since the program started last week, he said.

For groups such as ReSource, which try to keep as much material as possible out of landfills, diverting carpet is a big deal, Stenftenagel said.

"Obviously, we don't want to throw anything away if we don't have to, and carpet is big on volume," he said.

Carpet traditionally has been a tough candidate for reuse, Stenftenagel said. By the time most people are ready to shuck their shag, it's not something even the most hard-up college student will use.

"It's pretty gross," Stenftenagel said. "At the end of its life, a piece of carpet weighs four times more than it did when it was first made."

The program is available only to Boulder residents.

Boulder's carpets will go to Englewood-based All Recycling, where employees will sort the rugs, pick out those made of nylon - the raw material that can be recycled - and put them in a baler.

That material will be shipped to Georgia carpet-maker Shaw Industries.

Before deciding whether the six-month pilot program should continue, the city will look to see that a significant amount of the carpet it gets is made of nylon, rather than wool or other nonrecyclable materials, said Elizabeth Vasatka of Boulder's Office of Environmental Affairs.

Related Topics:Shaw Industries Group, Inc.