With the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for Carpet Stewardship, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection joined a national effort to further reduce waste by recycling and reusing post-consumer carpet.
“Waste carpet makes up one percent of the municipal waste stream -- about the same amount as plastic bottles, steel cans and tires,” said DEP Deputy Secretary for Regulatory Programs Allan Bedwell. “This partnership will provide us with ways to more effectively recover materials for recycling and better protect Florida’s environment.”
In 2001, the carpet industry forged a plan with federal, state and local government agencies, and non-government organizations to improve the management of waste carpet in the United States. The Memorandum of Understanding, now signed by 10 states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, sets goals to recover, reuse and recycle post-consumer carpet over ten years.
Established through the Memorandum, the Carpet America Recovery Effort fosters market-based solutions for recovering value from discarded carpet and a schedule for the phase-out of its land disposal and incineration.
Although most components of carpet can be recycled or reused, only four percent of waste carpet is currently recovered. CARE’s goal is to achieve a 20 percent landfill diversion by 2012.