Shaw Carpet Recycling Center Humming Along

Augusta, GA, May 7, 2009--There's no recession at Augusta's Evergreen Nylon Recycling Plant, according to a story in the Augusta Chronicle.

The company's 60 manufacturing employees have found job security in the carpet recycling business, said David Harless, the technical manager.

"The plant is doing very well. We're in the middle of a production run right now that is the longest continuous run ever at Evergreen," Harless said.

Meanwhile, its owner, Dalton, Ga.-based Shaw Industries Group Inc., has laid off more than 760 employees this year, according to the Georgia Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification layoff list. Shaw has closed plants because of market conditions.

"Two and a half years later, it's not only running, but it's thriving. This facility will continue to run in this economic downturn. There are no plans to shut down the Evergreen plant," Harless said.

Since restarting in 2007, the plant has recycled 165 million pounds of carpet. It recycles carpet from collection centers nationwide.

"No one recycles nylon-6 post-consumer carpet at the rate that Evergreen does," Harless said. "We'll consume about 100 million pounds of consumer carpet a year. That's a huge favorable impact on the environment."

The recycled carpet is placed in industrial-size shredders and melted. Then it is put in a reactor for depolymerization and is purified. The end product, recycled caprolactam, the raw material used to make nylon carpet fibers, is sent to a Shaw factory to be converted into new carpet.

Related Topics:Shaw Industries Group, Inc., Shaw Floors