CARE Submits Carpet Assessment Increase Request to CalRecycle

Dalton, GA, September 20, 2023-On September 20, CARE submitted a formal request to CalRecycle for an amendment to the 2023-2027 Carpet Stewardship Plan to increase the assessment levels on January 1, 2024. 

If approved by CalRecycle, the following increases will go into effect: 

broadloom carpet with at least 10% post-consumer recycled content (PCR): $0.68 per square yard (up from $0.56); 

broadloom carpet with less than 10% PCR: $0.70 per square yard (up from $0.58); 

carpet tile with at least 10% PCR: $0.97 per square yard (up from $0.71);

carpet tile with less than 10% PCR: $0.99 per square yard (up from $0.73).

This assessment increase is needed to meet the minimum reserve fund balance by the end of 2025, as required by CalRecycle in CARE's new Plan. If CalRecycle approves the request, formal notice of the increase will be sent to all stakeholders.

In addition, in August, the CARE California Carpet Stewardship Program awarded two grants, totaling $200,000, under its new Innovation & Design cycle. This grant cycle is intended to provide funding for testing and development activities that create a more recyclable and environmentally sustainable carpet design and/or post-consumer carpet (PCC) products that are more reusable, recyclable and/or have a decreased environmental footprint.

University of California Santa Barbara was awarded $100,000 to explore the depolymerization of traditionally difficult-to-recycle carpet tile fibers using the principles of green chemistry. The project lead is Mahdi Abu-Omar, Mellichamp Chair in Green Chemistry and Professor at UCSB.

West Virginia University was awarded $100,000 to research higher-value uses for post-consumer carpet calcium carbonate (PC4) in fiber-reinforced polymer composites for use in the construction industry. The project lead is Rakesh Gupta, a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at WVU.

Both projects will run through the 2023-24 academic year.