Winter 2011
Agencies working to build vibrant carpet recycling industry in the Pacific Northwest
Recycling used carpet currently going into landfills is the goal of a carpet recycling strategy developed in 2010 by a Carpet Recycling Workgroup comprised of state and local governments and research university representatives from Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia. The King County LinkUp program and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) led the effort to develop the Northwest Carpet Recycling Strategy and are currently implementing the strategy’s recommendations in partnership with workgroup members.
The strategy focuses on working with businesses locally to process carpet, while increasing demand for carpet recycling and driving demand for commodities derived from and products made with recovered carpet fiber.
“There is significant potential to spur economic development by creating an industry to collect and process used carpet into usable commodities,” said James Palmer, Economic Development Manager for the Washington State Department of Commerce. “We can collaborate with manufacturing businesses in the state to find local end markets for the materials derived from recycled carpet.”
The multi-agency workgroup gathered input from carpet and recycling experts and stakeholders to create the strategy. The workgroup hosted two business roundtable sessions with industry stakeholders while developing the plan. More than 100 industry representatives and workgroup members attended these sessions and provided input about what they thought were the most important activities needed to get carpet recycling established in the region.
The workgroup members incorporated that input to produce the final Northwest Carpet Recycling Strategy.
“This strategy is truly a reflection of both the public and private sector perspectives,” said Karl Englund, Assistant Research Professor at Washington State University’s Composite Materials Engineering Center. “The workgroup realized early on the importance of having the recycling and carpet industries involved.”
The strategy includes pursuing product stewardship measures such as the national negotiations convened by the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), product redesign, closed-loop recycling and take-back programs. The goal of such activities is to utilize solid waste and other public policies to influence costs and facilitate the flow of quality material toward recycling.
Other actions outlined in the strategy include reduction of asbestos contamination in used carpet, formation of a consortium focused on bringing a carpet processing facility to the Pacific Northwest and facilitating continued collaboration between interested parties.
Here are some highlights from 2010.
- Economic development efforts gain momentum: The Washington State Department of Commerce has been working with King County LinkUp and SPU to contact companies that can fill in gaps in the carpet recycling supply chain to establish a full and robust infrastructure. Meetings have been under way with prime candidates and assistance is being provided where needed. A meeting was hosted in February for businesses that are currently or planning to be processing carpet in the Northwest and key recyclers in Western Washington to describe local resources and offer them the chance to network with each other.
- Public agency procurement personnel learn about products made from recovered carpet: SPU presented a webinar featuring several building products containing carpet-derived recycled content. The September 2010 webinar was targeted for public agency procurement. You can find the presentations on the CARE website. If you have questions about the webinar, contact Shirli Axelrod.
- Research being conducted to help inform strategy implementation efforts: LinkUp has been mapping the decision-making process for private sector property owners when they remove or replace carpet. The information will be used in planning education and outreach strategies for increasing the use of carpet reclamation and recycling services. LinkUp is also putting together a resource list and specification development tool to help with the purchasing of carpet recycling services and recycled-content carpet.
- The City of Seattle is the lead city for developing a U.S. Communities flooring products and reclamation contract, which will include carpet. U.S. Communities is a national government procurement cooperative that provides contracts to public sector and non-profits. This is an opportunity to develop model language for carpet and carpet reclamation and the contract would be available to qualifying agencies and organizations that participate in U.S. Communities. The City of Seattle currently requires purchasing carpet recycling and recycled-content carpet on their jobs. Enter ’flooring’ under “Commodity’ to view the City of Seattle flooring contracts.
- National trade publications run article about the Northwest Carpet Recycling Strategy: Plastics Recycling Update and Resource Recycling Magazine published an article by Shirli Axelrod, Kris Beatty and James Palmer.
In addition to these local efforts, national and state efforts to increase carpet recycling have pushed forward.
- Talks are proceeding to renegotiate a nationwide memorandum of understanding for carpet stewardship among carpet manufacturers, recyclers, governments and other interested businesses and organizations. The discussion is increasingly focused on recycling goals and dates by which they would be reached. The full group meets monthly, with more-frequent subgroup meetings.
- A new product stewardship law in California (AB2398) establishes the country's first industry-financed carpet recycling program. CARE will serve as the third-party nonprofit carpet stewardship organization. Learn more at CalRecycle's Carpet Stewardship Program website.
- Carpet product stewardship is also the subject of a bill that was introduced in the Washington State Legislature. SB 5110, sponsored by Senator Jeanne Kohl-Wells, would have made carpet producers responsible for developing a program for the recycling of discarded carpet in Washington. The bill passed out of the Senate Environment, Water and Energy committee, but did not make it out of the Rules committee before the March 7th deadline for voting a bill out of its house of origin. Learn more about SB 5110.
- As of September 2010, the State of Washington has a flooring contract with Great Floors that requires carpet reclamation, but does not require purchasing of recycled-content carpet. View Washington State's flooring contract.
All these efforts are paying off in greater recycling and local business. Over 2,000 tons of carpet were recycled in Washington in 2010, and the outlook is very positive. In 2011, LinkUp, SPU and other Workgroup members will continue with the implementation of the strategy. For more information about this effort visit the LinkUp website or contact Kris Beatty with the LinkUp Program or Shirli Axelrod with SPU.
King County focus
Recycling and sustainability resources offered by King County
Businesses and individuals in King County can find a variety of resources on the King County website. From recycling data to green building to recycling asphalt shingles, the following sections of the site can provide helpful information.
GreenTools newsletter
Published by King County Solid Waste Division's GreenTools green building program, the quarterly GreenTools newsletter provides the latest news on green building and sustainable development in King County. The GreenTools program is designed to help all King County stakeholders green their built environment while addressing critical environmental issues, such as climate change, habitat restoration and solid waste reduction. GreenTools provides technical assistance, grants and hands-on training to help users create green projects efficiently and effectively. Submit stories, events, or announcements to the newsletter via e-mail.
What do I do with...?
Do you have something to get rid of, but you aren't sure what to do with it? This database of recycling and disposal options allows you to search by material or category. The site gives you rules, regulations and other information on disposal or recycling of the material, and then directs you to service providers within King County. The site offers information for both businesses and residents.
King County solid and household hazardous waste facilities
King County operates multiple facilities for the disposal or recycling of solid waste and household hazardous waste. This website provides residents and businesses with information on King County recycling and transfer stations such as hours of operation, accepted materials, construction updates and addresses. In the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Options section, you'll find details on accepted materials, the Wastemobile mobile collection facility, drop-off service and hazardous materials safety. There is information on the King County's Cedar Hills Regional Landfill as well.
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LinkUp website and eNewsLink
LinkUp continues to work to expand markets for selected recyclable and reusable materials by facilitating an interactive community of businesses, public agencies and other organizations. The LinkUp website features updates on current projects, offers background information and provides links to a variety of resources. The eNewsLink newsletter reports industry news and the latest information on the program's priority materials.
Industry Voice
Mattress recycling a problem for many states
The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) recently conducted a survey among its members to better understand how mattress disposal and recycling is affecting states across the country. PSI is now preparing to launch a new program that could lead to a national model for mattress recycling. LinkUp spoke with PSI's executive director Scott Cassel about the survey results and the new program.
Q: How was the issue of mattress recycling brought to PSI's attention?
A: The issue was brought to PSI's attention by the Connecticut Product Stewardship Council. In just two months the City of Hartford spent approximately $75,000 on mattress disposal. To better understand the extent of mattress disposal across the country, PSI conducted an informal survey of 80 of its state and local government members. From this survey, we found that mattress disposal and access to recycling is a significant issue for many states.
Q: What did you learn from the survey?
A: Representatives from local government and universities said that mattresses were a nuisance, if not their top concern. The problem seems to be more significant in communities that lack adequate collection infrastructure and recycling or disposal options. Communities where retailers will take back used mattresses with the purchase of a new one ranked mattress disposal as a low priority.
Q: Why are mattresses a problem? And how are they currently being handled?
A. First, mattresses are bulky, making them difficult and often expensive to handle as waste. For example, mattresses cause operational challenges to both landfills and incinerators such as the springs getting caught in equipment. Second, the recycling infrastructure for mattresses is inconsistent and limited from state to state. There are some facilities that refurbish used mattresses to be sold again; however, regulations for this kind of processing vary in different states and are often difficult to enforce, leading to sanitation and public health issues such as the spread of bed bugs.
Finally, inadequate collection and consolidation facilities cause the recycling process to be more expensive per mattress than the current market value of the materials recovered. The way mattresses are currently handled varies: Some retailers will provide a pick-up service for used mattresses when a customer purchases a new one. In some municipalities, mattresses will be collected via regular curbside collection. Some must be collected by special bulky waste pick-up, and some municipalities require people to transport mattress to a special collection facility. Of the 20 to 26 million used mattresses discarded in the U.S. each year, roughly 1 percent end up being recycled, with the rest going to landfills or incinerators, or some being refurbished for resale.
Q: How is PSI's project addressing the mattress problem?
A. PSI is partnering with the Connecticut Product Stewardship Council, Covanta Energy, the City of Austin, TX and other interested stakeholders across the country including state and local governments to increase mattress recycling. PSI will offer to work collaboratively with retailers and manufacturers to develop model producer-responsibility legislation. As part of the project, PSI will develop a background briefing paper, which will set the stage for a stakeholder meeting in Connecticut. Conference calls will be held and open to all interested stakeholders. PSI hopes to develop the model legislation in the next three to six months.
PSI is seeking additional project partners. More information on the project is available online. King County Solid Waste Division is a member of the Product Stewardship Institute.
Fast facts
Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) recently issued recycling data for 2009. The state's recycling rate stayed level in 2009 at 45 percent; however, the total amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated was down by more than 700,000 tons1. According to DOE, the recession has affected the amount of waste generated.
Source: Washington State Department of Ecology; Generation, Recycling and Per Capita data (1986-2009)
1 Solid Waste and Recycling Data, Washington State Department of Ecology, 2009 www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/solidwastedata
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