Today's Topics:
carpet recycling
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Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 09:09:09 -0800 (PST)
From: bplatt@igc.apc.org (Brenda Platt)
Subject: carpet recycling
>======carpets =======
>Does anyone have information about carpet recycling? Looking for something
>to do with about 200-500 carpets when students move off campus come May.
>-----sorry for the multiple post-------
>
>-Becky
>
>-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>R.J. HERMAN
>Recycling Coordinator
>Grounds and Roads Dept.
>21 Waterworks Rd.
>University of New Hampshire
>Durham, NH 03824-3519
> PHONE: (603)862-3100
> FAX: (603) 862-0139
> EMAIL: rjh1@christa.unh.edu
>
>http://unhinfo.unh.edu/
>-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Here's some information on carpet recycling from GreenClips:
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Welcome to GreenClips!
GreenClips is a summary of recent articles in the media on sustainable
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issues. This news digest is published every two weeks by Chris Hammer.
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GreenClips.64 01.29.97
CARPET RECYCLING BREAKTHROUGH
After five years of research, Collins & Aikman is the first carpet maker to
manufacture new carpet from old. Through its Infinity Initiative, the company
now offers Powerbond, a 100 percent recyclable carpet with a vinyl backing
made from 75 percent recycled material. Collins & Aikman down-cycles old
carpet into picnic tables and other products, but recycling it into new
carpet has been a technical challenge. The breakthrough came when engineers
figured out what to do with the thick rope of black goo generated from
melting old carpet and mixing it with vinyl and low-density polyethylene.
Using two giant steel rolling pins called a calender from its wallpaper
subsidiary, Collins & Aikman transformed the black mixture into a flat sheet
of carpet backing. Recycling carpet is the industry's effort to cut
dramatically the 3.5 billion pounds of waste carpet that go to landfills each
year, costing companies $350 million in dumping fees alone. The Dalton,
Georgia-based company expects to recoup the $15 million it invested in
recycling in three years. Other regional carpet makers including Interface
Inc. and Shaw Industries Inc. are also working to keep used carpet out of
landfills. For more information call Collins & Aikman, 800.241.4902. - The
Wall Street Journal, Southeast Journal, January 15, 1997, p. S3, by Kelly
Greene, and The Green Business Letter, February 1997.
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Here are some other carpet recyclers:
United Recycling Inc. (URI), a subsidiary of Environmental Technologies
USA, is also involved in carpet recycling. URI, 3119 Lynn Avenue South,
St. Louis Park, MN 55416, 612-929-7175, fax 929-7923. URI was formed in
1990 by carpet dealers, distributors and installers in the Twin Cities. It
handles plastic-based carpets and makes pellets that are then processed
into applications such as flower pots or automotive component parts.
AlliedSignal is developing a process to recycle nylon 6 carpet materials
into several "output product streams" such as caprolactam (a lower
molecular weight feedstock of the original nylon). AlliedSignal is a major
producer of carpet nylon. Contact Inara Brubaker, AlliedSignal Research
and Technology, 50 East Algonquin Road, Des Plaines, IL 60017,
708-391-3168, fax 391-3750.
BASF has started a nationwide recycling program for commercial carpets. I
think they're only recycling their own carpets (made from 100% Zeftron
nylon fiber). Call 800-477-8147 for more information. The closest office
to NH is in New York City. Contact Anne D'Ambruoso, Contract Specialist,
BASF Corp., 1675 Broadway, 35th Fl., NY, NY 10019, 212-408-9703,
800-433-6157, fax 212-408-9740.
Hope this is helpful.
Brenda
=====================================
Brenda A. Platt
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
2425 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009
(202) 232-4108 fax (202) 332-4108
e-mail: bplatt@igc.apc.org
ILSR web page http://www.ilsr.org
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End of GreenYes Digest V97 #21
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