Cutting a Rug

Carpet is a highly engineered and complex product. It is built to last, and that is what makes it so challenging to recycle. Today, about 5 percent of all carpet is recycled. The value is in the thermoplastic face fiber, which is made from oil. The face fiber and backing can be used directly in some products like railroad ties, composite lumber, and shingles. In other cases, the backing alone can be used in cement kilns, where it serves two purposes: the petroleum-based portion contributes energy for the production of the cement, and the residual calcium carbonate becomes part of the clinker, or raw cement material. In some cases, the separated backing must be sent to the landfill because we do not have enough outlets for it today. Technology is advancing rapidly, and there will be several new recovery operations in place by year's end to further expand the growth of reclamation and recovery of these valuable materials. You can download the 2006 CARE Annual Report [PDF] for a more comprehensive analysis.

Carpet tile is becoming very popular for a variety of reasons, but broadloom is still the predominate choice. Virtually any high-quality, name-brand carpet will give you the durability and service life you expect. Now, how to decide which is the greenest? There is no simple answer here. We are very early in the process of understanding how to make any product green. The best approach is a full life-cycle analysis (LCA), a very costly and time-consuming process. The procedure of conducting LCAs is not an exact science. My best advice is to ask your retailer the very questions you have asked me. Does it have recyclable content? Is it recyclable or designed to be recycled in the future? How will the process work when I call you five years from now? Is there an upfront cost? Different producers will have different programs and answers to these questions. Carpet is actually an excellent choice for someone who has asthma and allergies, based on a significant body of work done both in the U.S. and internationally. You want to look for a carpet that carries the Carpet and Rug Institute Green Label or Green Label Plus certification -- very important for indoor air-quality considerations. You may also want to check out the Carpet and Rug Institute's new Seal of Approval program, which deals with the chemicals and equipment used to clean carpet and the technicians who perform the work.

Ray is a visionary. There is no reason a CEO cannot have the best intentions for the environment and still run a very profitable company. In fact, I believe this will become more important in the future. Keep in mind there are many ways to solve the challenging problems all industries face and there is no single best answer. All carpet companies today are stepping up to the challenge. I have personally estimated that the carpet industry has invested almost $400 million in the last 10 years in sustainability initiatives including new plants, new technologies, new chemistries, and new products specifically designed to be recycled at the end of their design life. Over 65 percent of this is in the last five years. A little research will show this industry is regarded by many as a leader in the environmental-stewardship arena, and I am lucky to be able to play a small part.

Go here and click on your state, and it will expand showing your options. You have a major recycler in New Jersey near the Newark airport. Give them a call and ask for Peter.

CARE is a voluntary nonprofit whose mission is the development of market-based solutions for the reuse and recycling of post-consumer carpet. My preference is voluntary funding, and we do have a scale that is proportional to sales. It has worked well to date, with membership expanding every year. I do think having reclamation specified as part of the bid package will help the cause. However, I believe the single most important development is the creation of demand for products that contain post-consumer carpet. If there is no demand for the products, there is no reason to collect them. A good example might be carpet cushion. The largest recycler of post-consumer carpet in the world is Los Angeles Fiber in California. One of their major products is 100 percent post-consumer-carpet-derived cushion or padding. Instead of buying rebond foam pad (the stuff with all the colored pieces), ask for fiber pad with post-consumer recycled content. This could have a huge impact on our ability to divert carpet from landfills.

I must tell you that I lived through Hurricane Ivan in Pensacola, Fla., and I worked very hard on recycling carpet after Hurricane Katrina. The biggest problem we ran into was contamination (oil, fecal, etc.). No one was interested in handling this material. In addition, once carpet is wet it is much more expensive to transport and basically cannot be recycled any longer. Perhaps in the future, new technology will allow us to handle such materials, but we are just not there yet.

We are building a brand-new industry in the United States, and the fact is we just do not operate on a scale that lets us handle every option today. There are a few centers where people can drop off their old carpet for free or at a small charge, and some who will actually come pick it up for a fee. These options are the exception today. We hope we can learn from them and build justification to expand in the future. It may be possible to approach recyclers in your area and see how you can get on a program. Work with a retailer to place a covered collection bin which can be hauled off when full.

Formaldehyde is not used in the production of carpet and has not been for more than 20 years. There is a lot of old information out there and it can be hard to sort the truth from the myths. I can tell you factually that carpet is one of the lowest emitters of VOCs of any product placed inside the home or office today. Virtually every carpet manufactured in the U.S. is certified under the CRI Green Label or Green Label Plus program. The idea that carpet can be a sink (or a filter) is, in my mind, a good one. Once these ubiquitous materials find their way into your home (via air currents, clothes, shoes, dirt, etc.) two things can happen. You can trap them at the entry point when they become lodged and trapped in carpet or rug fibers where they remain out of the breathing zone until properly cleaned (using Seal of Approval chemicals and equipment, Green Label vacuums, and trained technicians -- just like you change your furnace filter). Or, they fall upon hard surfaces where they can be continually disturbed and resuspended into the air you breathe. My point is, you can't stop this exposure from happening, but you can trap and minimize the path to your nose! There is independent research in peer-reviewed literature that supports this notion.

The basics are a minimum of 10,000 square feet of warehouse space, a baler, and an identification device. The investment varies with your location and exact equipment you specify. If you want to get more detailed information please go to the CARE website and submit a request for information.

There are many good choices today to pick from. I cannot make a specific recommendation, but if you go to the website for the leading carpet manufacturers and type "green carpet" into their search option, you should begin to get a good feel for what's available. There are a whole lot more choices in the commercial line of carpet today than residential. That will be changing with time. You may want to investigate carpet tiles as well. These products are becoming very popular.

Tough question! My first thought is I am not smart enough to offer a solution. I do know that 75 percent of all bottles go to the landfill. Many cities are looking at single-stream recycling options to make it easier on residents and setting up a sorting facility that can deliver the economy of scale necessary to make the economics work. If we had not lost confidence in our public water supply years ago, maybe we would not be in this fix. Perhaps if we can get back to basics, we can reverse the trend. Bottles have an intrinsic material value. Maybe there is a way to tap into this potential. By the way, the carpet industry is the largest recycler of plastic bottles back into carpet and carpet backing.

This is a challenge since you are talking about fecal matter and urine contamination. At this time I hate to say it, but your best and only choice is landfill.

You may want to ask your carpet supplier what options he can offer when it comes to recycling. You can specify in your contract that you want the old carpet recycled. As for websites, I encourage you to explore each manufacturer's website for details on their offerings of green carpet, adhesives, etc., since each is different. You should make sure your carpet and adhesive carries the CRI Green Label or Green Label Plus sticker to ensure the best VOC performance. Ask your installer to roll out the carpet for 48 to 72 hours prior to installation if you cannot ventilate. Also arrange for the installer to install on a Friday after work and make sure the air-conditioning system will be running over the weekend.

Carpet is one of the lowest off-gassing materials you can put inside your home. In addition, after the first 304 days, off-gassing drops to essentially zero. As for the feet issue, this makes me think of why I like carpet: warm underfoot, quiets the room, and comfortable to walk upon. It is also like a big filter helping keep the air cleaner.