N.Y. Wa$teMatch & CarpetCycle Partner on Carpet-Re
New York, July 30--N.Y. Wa$teMatch and CarpetCycle are working together to eliminate thousands of pounds of used carpet from going directly to landfill.
Under a grant provided by the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), the two organizations will partner to find new homes for gently used carpet.
CarpetCycle, a carpet removal firm, is collecting old carpet removed in preparation for installing new carpets in office buildings and other commercial properties in the tri-state area.
CarpetCycle makes determinations at each job site as to whether carpet is suitable for reuse, recycling or disposal. N.Y. Wa$teMatch is helping to find new end-users for the gently used carpet. Postings on the N.Y. Wa$teMatch Web site, outreach to nonprofit groups and other end users will help extend the life of these materials.
“You wouldn’t believe the quality carpet that is frequently replaced in high-end commercial buildings. The quality often appears brand new,” comments Sean Ragiel, CarpetCycle’s president. When speaking of the two organizations, Dr. Robert Peoples, CARE executive director, said “They have a nice infrastructure for collection in place in the New York metropolitan area and part of this money will go directly to marketing efforts targeting potential recipients and suppliers of post-consumer carpet for reuse."
According to the U.S. EPA Web site, “approximately 4.7 billion pounds of carpet were discarded in the United States in 2002. Most years, carpet accounts for over 1% of all municipal solid waste by weight or about 2% by volume. The bulky nature of carpet and the variety of materials used in its manufacture often create handling, collection, and recycling problems for local and state governments.”
To address this issue the U.S. EPA signed a memorandum of understanding with carpet and fiber manufacturers to reduce the amount of carpet landfilled by 40% by the year 2012. The memorandum of understanding resulted in the formation of CARE. The program has been funding initiatives by different organizations to engage in carpet reuse, recycling and the conversion of waste to energy since 2002.
N.Y. Wa$teMatch’s Web site identifies trading partners for the exchange of commercial waste and surplus materials. The listing of available and desired materials with N.Y. Wa$teMatch is free. Additionally, registered users can elect to receive e-mail notices when specific materials of interest are listed on the site. To receive notices of new carpet listings, or other material notices, register directly on their Web site.
CarpetCycle has been removing and recycling carpet and carpet padding since 1999. In 2003, CarpetCycle sent 13 trailer loads of carpet tile for reuse to several charitable organizations located in the mid-west and Appalachia. To date over 13 million pounds of carpet and padding have been diverted from landfills by CarpetCycle, which utilizes a variety of secondary markets for recycling and downcycling.
