Startup Modular Carpet Recycling Opens Plant

Dover, DE, June 8, 2010--Modular Carpet Recycling is opening its first manufacturing facility in Delaware.

The startup firm manufactures high purity renewed nylon, trademarked Renewlon, from post-consumer carpet and other waste textiles.

Delaware Economic Development Office recently awarded MCR a $603,000 loan from the Delaware Strategic Fund for new manufacturing equipment at the site. The investment will bring approximately 30 new jobs to Delaware within three years.

More than 5 billion pounds of post-consumer carpet ends up in U.S. landfills each year, according to MCR. The nylon in the carpets, produced from crude oil and natural gas, is recoverable. However, the company said that there has been no viable process to produce high-purity nylon.

As a result, only 6% of waste carpet is recycled today.

Simonetti describes MCR as a “waste carpet refinery” that takes waste carpet and purifies its nylon content beyond 99%. Waste nylon carpet has 40-50% nylon content by weight to start, mixed with a variety of other plastics, chemicals, dirt and colors.

During the last three years, MCR has designed and built a pilot plant that has proven the technology and effectiveness of that “refinery” on a small scale and helped secure $5 million of capitalization from private equity and debt sources.

Frank Hurd, chairman of the Carpet America Recovery Effort, said the company will add significantly to carpet recycling.

"Their innovative technology will allow for a significant increase in the diversion of post consumer carpet from landfills and create new uses for post consumer carpet. It is companies like MCR that will make it possible for CARE to achieve its goals,” Hurd said.