Wisconsin’s Sergenian's Turns to Carpet Recovery

Madison, WI, March 5, 2007--Sergenian's Floor Coverings of Madison used to send about 750,000 pounds of used carpeting per year to landfills. But now Sergenian's guarantees that any carpet it removes will be reused either as new flooring material or as fuel for electricity generation, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

Sergenian's has the distinction of having the first effort of this kind in the state and of being one of only four carpet dealers in the country with any kind of reclamation program.

Jim Garner, CEO of Sergenian's Floor Coverings, said Sergenian's wanted to get involved in carpet reclamation because they felt it was the right thing to do; however, it hasn't been easy.

"We've been trying to do something like this for about two years now," said Garner, "But there have been some changes in the industry that haven't let us get involved until now."

According to Garner, the main problem has been finding enough companies that can guarantee they can regularly and consistently accept the recycled material. "Originally, the carpet manufacturers tried using the material, but then they gave that up for a while. Now there's such a push for greener solutions to disposal that they've started to accept it again."

After Sergenian's removes material from a building, it sends it to Reynold's Urethane Recycling in Middleton, which will separate the carpeting into its various components. That facility will then store the reusable material for Sergenian's until there is enough to ship to a manufacturer.

Garner said about 80 percent of the carpeting can be broken down into nylon and reused, although that figure may vary. The remaining material is put into a waste-to-energy program where it is burned to generate electricity. "It's the same basic idea as burning coal," said Garner, "And the material actually burns hotter than coal."

Still, Garner would rather not have the excess product burned. "It's not what we would prefer," he said, "but unfortunately that's our best option at this time." Their primary goal is keeping the carpet out of landfills.

So far, they've been successful. "In just the first three weeks, Reynold's has received about 18,000 pounds from us," said Garner, "And that's during the slowest time of the year."

Garner says Sergenian's hopes to expand the program to allow other contractors in the area to take part. "We're also going to be looking at being a point where we have other dealers or other contractors bring their used material," he said, "We're waiting for people to understand that this kind of thing can be done."