July 10, 2006—Shaw Industries’ recent purchase of the previously closed Evergreen Nylon Recycling operation in Augusta, GA, from DSM Chemicals North America, will enable customers to recycle their nylon carpet each time they choose to replace it.
According to Shaw, initial interest in reopening Evergreen was driven by the demand for more post-consumer recycled material content from specifiers and carpet users in commercial markets, but residential “green” initiatives are clearly on the upswing as well.
The Evergreen plant employs patented technology that converts nylon carpet into caprolactam, the raw material used to make nylon 6. Type 6 nylon is used in such applications as residential and commercial carpet, engineering plastics, automotive parts, sporting goods, films, and packaging.
The recycling system at the Evergreen plant is designed to utilize post-consumer carpets in a “cradle-to-cradle” closed-loop process. The sustainable process allows nylon fibers to be recycled over and over again without the loss of any aesthetic or performance properties.
The collection system is expected to collect as much as 300 million pounds of carpet waste of all types annually. Other Shaw initiatives for recycling backing materials and utilizing carpet in waste-to-energy gasification will reportedly benefit from the collection system as well.
For more information visit Shaw.
