August 16, 2004—Under a grant provided by the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), WasteMatch and CarpetCycle will partner to find new homes for gently used carpet.
WasteMatch and CarpetCycle are working together to eliminate thousands of pounds of used carpet from going directly to landfill. CarpetCycle, a carpet removal firm, is collecting old carpet removed in preparation for installing new carpets in office buildings and other commercial properties in the tri-state area. CarpetCycle makes determinations at each job site as to whether carpet is suitable for reuse, recycling or disposal.
NY WasteMatch is helping to find new end-users for the gently used carpet. Postings on the NY WasteMatch website, outreach to nonprofit groups and other end users will help extend the life of these materials.
“You wouldn’t believe the quality carpet that is frequently replaced in high-end commercial buildings. The quality often appears brand new,” comments Sean Ragiel, CarpetCycle’s President. When speaking of the two organizations, Dr. Robert Peoples, CARE Executive Director, said “They have a nice infrastructure for collection in place in the New York metropolitan area and part of this money will go directly to marketing efforts targeting potential recipients and suppliers of post-consumer carpet for re-use.”
According to the US EPA Web site, “approximately 4.7 billion pounds of carpet were discarded in the United States in 2002. Most years, carpet accounts for over 1 percent of all municipal solid waste by weight or about 2 percent by volume. The bulky nature of carpet and the variety of materials used in its manufacture often create handling, collection, and recycling problems for local and state governments.”
To address this issue the US EPA signed a memorandum of understanding with carpet and fiber manufacturers to reduce the amount of carpet landfilled by 40% by the year 2012. The memorandum of understanding resulted in the formation of Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE). CARE has been funding initiatives by different organizations to engage in carpet reuse, recycling and the conversion of waste to energy since 2002.
NY WasteMatch’s Web site identifies trading partners for the exchange of commercial waste and surplus materials. The listing of available and desired materials with NY WasteMatch is free.
Additionally, registered users can elect to receive e-mail notices when specific materials of interest are listed on the site. To receive notices of new carpet listings, or other material notices, register directly on their Web site.
NY WasteMatch is a program of ITAC, the Industrial & Technology Assistance Corporation , is a not-for-profit economic development organization that provides business and technical assistance to manufacturing and technology firms in New York City. ITAC is a NYSTAR funded RTD Center and SBIR/STTR resource center. The NY Wa$teMatch program is sponsored by the NYC Department of Sanitation and receives support from the Empire State Economic Development Corporation.
