The Carpet America Recovery Effort

CARE is a 501c3 non-profit organization with a mission to facilitate the recovery of post-consumer carpet in the USA over a ten-year time horizon. EundamentaUy, CARE works within the free enterprise system. This means CARE 

The philosophy of CARE is also tied to the principle of conservation of resources. In other words, it does not make sense to expend two barrels of oil in the process of recovering the equivalent of one barrel of oil. This is simply not the right thing to do for the enviromnent. hi practical terms this means it will be necessary to have many options to deal with post-consumer carpet. 

Historically the US market is split as follows 40% nylon 6,6 25% nylon 6 25% polypropylene 9% polyester and 1% wool and other fiber. A complete report of diversion activities in the USA may be found on the CARE web site www.carpetrecovery.org. 

Based on today s technology and associated economics, it is impossible to recycle all this material back into carpet itself. Therefore, a key element of the CARE approach will be to aid in the development of non-carpet products containing post-consumer carpet. By facilitating the development and market penetration of such products, a demand for post-consumer carpet as a feedstock will be created. Such demand will facilitate the aeation of the necessary infrastructure required for the collection, sorting, processing, and supply of these materials. 

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