224.6 million pounds of carpet waste diverted

Pine Mountain, GA— Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) released annual survey results showing 224.6 million pounds of post-consumer carpet diverted from landfills in 2005.

The release of CARE’s Fourth Annual Report included updates on progress the organization has made in its first four years of existence as well as the annual survey results for 2005 which showed an increase of 108 percent from the amount reported diverted in 2004.

In 2005, reported recycling and diversion of post-consumer carpet doubled from 2004, bringing the total amount to 483.7 million pounds since CARE started calculating the numbers in 2002. Of the total of 224.6 million pounds of post-consumer carpet reported to be diverted from landfill in 2005, 194.3 million pounds was reported being recycled. Compared to 2004, this represents a 97 percent increase in recycling.