The burnt - orange roll in the hay rug in your 1977 split - stage steal of a deal house must go . You ’ve removed the pressed wood bulwark screening à la Brady Brunch , and go are the avocado pear countertops and kitchen appliances . The only major update leave to usher your humble abode out of the disco era and into the new millenary is the flashy carpet that wrap up every square inch of storey outer space .
Once you ’ve ripped up and removed the carpeting , you ’re leave with a mickle of useless floor that resembles an tremendous , fluffy anthill . If it seems like a scandalously large load to shake off off , consider this : Each yr , around 5 billion pounds ( 2.2 billion kilograms ) of discarded rug terminate up in landfill [ source : Carpet America Recovery Effort ] . While carpet represents only a sliver of the entire amount of waste we cast out , the carpeting industry wants to significantly reduce it as part of its wholesale crusade to tot a glistening fleeceable lustre to its image .
Traditional carpet that run along the halls of many federal agency buildings and homes are often lour upon by the eco - witting . That ’s because most of the subdued clobber we ’re treading on is woven from rock oil - based celluloid fibers . Nylon and polypropylene plastics , which are made from petrochemical polymers , are the two most common components in carpeting . The backing consists of latex and PVC , which are two additional petro credit card . Furthermore , the cocktail of chemical in sure dyestuff and glues have been sleep together to give out volatile constitutive compound ( VOCs ) that have potentially negatively charged health effects .
On the manufacturing side of the outgrowth , companies including Mohawk , Shaw and Interface Americas , have made progress in boil down their carbon impact . The Carpet and Rug Institute in Dalton , Ga. , for example , has developed a Green Label Plus programme that key out carpets with lower VOC emissions . Instead of petro - based fibers , some newer eco - carpeting fibre contain corn ware and recycle plastic bottles .
The next fully grown hurdle for the carpet industry is tackling the afterlife of its product . Referred to ascradle - to - cradlemanufacturing , manufacture experts are focalize on converting used postconsumer carpets into new floor covering . But reaching this greenish landmark reckon heavily on consumer behavior .
The Carpet Recycling Challenge
In 2002 , a group of carpet manufacturer , the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) and government agencies signed theMemorandum of Understanding for Carpet Stewardship(MOU ) . The MOU pledged to disport 40 pct of the amount of postconsumer carpet that terminate up in landfills by 2012 . million of pounds of rug would or else be recycled and made into Modern rug and a legion of other product .
But consumer ca n’t recycle carpet with the same ease as bottles , stool and newspapers . For that reason , the 2002 MOU establish theCarpet America Recovery Effort(CARE ) to accommodate carpet recycling for individuals and businesses . tending offers information on 60 carpeting retrieval centre scatter around the United States that can pick up and cart away honest-to-god carpeting to be recycled . However , many states , especially in the Midwest , have no such facilities .
Since carpet recycling facility are few and far between in certain placement , people looking to dispose of old carpeting without making a trip to the landfill may have to get a little more originative . Nonprofit groups specialise in lodging , such as Habitat for Humanity , may accept used rug and carpet scraps . Some multipurpose recycling center may also let it .
And just like dump at a landfill , recycling rug is n’t liberal . accord to CARE , the fees will usually lick out to between 5 and 25 centime per pound . Shaw Industries can save customers that lend cost if they buy its EcoWorx line made with recycled materials . It comes with a green guarantee that the Shaw will pick your old EcoWorx carpet and then reprocess at their mill .
Though the price may be a deterrent for some , the extended processing of postconsumer carpet explains why you have to pay . For example , at the Georgia carpet factories of Interface Americas , old carpet is first brought in , scanned for its polymer content ( i.e. nylon or polypropene ) and separated consequently [ beginning : Discovery Channel ] . The fluffy top fiber of the carpet are shaved off to be rewoven as recycled yarn . The rest of the nylon content will be sent out to other ship’s company for use as nylon plastic for self-propelling parts , shingle and landscaping products [ informant : CARE ] . This recycling subprogram , which make an Energy Globe award in 2008 , can excerpt 9 million pounds ( 4 million kilograms ) of nylon from 30 million Egyptian pound ( 13 million kilograms ) of carpet [ reference : Fischler ] .
But without the effort of consumers to recycle their rug in the first plaza , cradle - to - cradle carpeting might top to a dead end . Fortunately , it ’ll credibly become easier and gimcrack to reprocess rug as demand for carpet recycling facilities and services grow .
