CARE Releases Annual Report, Diverts 311M lbs. of Carpet from Landfills

The CARE Board of Directors released its Annual Report that showed that in 2009, CARE members diverted more than 311 million pounds of post- consumer carpet from landfills. Of that amount, 246 million pounds – nearly 80 percent of the total – was recycled back into carpet and other consumer products. The industry also added 561 jobs directly linked to carpet recycling.

According to CARE Chairman Frank Hurd, the new jobs, plus a six percent increase in carpet diversion is especially heartening, given the state of the economy and its effects on the carpet industry.

“Before the last two years, you had to go back to 1975 and1976 to find two consecutive years of declining sales,” Hurd said, noting that, in 2008, carpet recycling experienced its first-ever decline in carpet diversion. “We are proud of the turnaround we experienced in 2009 and the return to year-over-year increases in both carpet diversion and recycling.”