Carpet

CARE awards $2 million in carpet recycling grants

Carpet America Recovery Effort’s (CARE’s) California Carpet Stewardship Program has formally signed contracts to distribute approximately $2 million in grant funding for six capital improvement and three product testing projects, with 85 percent of funding allocated for California-based projects.

The award funding is expected to result in millions of pounds of recycled California-generated postconsumer carpet (PCC) output and new California jobs by the end of 2016.

The grant funding supports capital investment, infrastructure and/or equipment that will process or manufacture products using California-generated PCC, as well as product testing and research and development activities that investigate the use of PCC to manufacture established products, test or certify new or reformulated products, and/or feasibility studies on potential new uses of PCC.

Awarded projects represent a significant expansion in California PCC capacity through enhanced or improved operations at one existing California facility, the support of one out-of-state pilot using California PCC with potential for in-state operations in future years, and the establishment of four new PCC operations in California—a 200 percent increase in the number of California PCC facilities.

CARE administers the California Carpet Stewardship Program, which is charged with meeting the requirements for carpet recycling set by the California Assembly Bill 2398 and managed by CalRecycle.