Recycling Rate, Other Targets Met or Exceeded in 2021
|
|
Initial statistics show that CARE again made significant progress in 2021. In a Program milestone, the Q4 2021 Recycling Rate was 28.7%, which brings the 2021 annual Recycling Rate to 27.9% exceeding the target for the first time. This makes six straight years of rate increases, with an average growth of 27.7% per year. Overall collections were up 14% in 2021, and CARE’s public Drop Off Site network collections increased by 25%. Recycling efficiency (also known as yield) met the target of 75%.
CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples hailed the success, “Despite the on-going COVID disruptions (labor costs and availability, transportation costs, supply chain disruptions, decreasing carpet sales), the carpet recycling program has continued to grow due to the hard work of the recycling community. Expansion plans for new capacity, collections and new markets are on track for 2022. The Program is working well, and growth continues as we begin the process of defining the next Five-Year Plan, which will be submitted in late summer.”
|
|
COVID Subsidies Extended through 2022
|
|
CARE has announced the continuation of the special COVID Action Plan subsidies through the end of 2022. This is driven by the ongoing pandemic impacts, supply chain challenges and recent inflationary concerns. CARE feels it is in the best interest of the Program to retain the current status until the new Five-Year Plan is approved.
CARE will discontinue the early payment option that has been operating for the last two years effective March 31st. Participating recyclers may still apply for early March payments for the last time by April 10th.
|
|
2021 Grants Have Major Impact
|
|
In 2021, CARE made 12 grants to nine companies, totaling $1.617 million. CARE’s grantees helped to push the recycling rate over the top with increased collections, recycling, and post-consumer-content product development.
The grants program made six capital awards, one testing award, and five micro collection awards. Eight of the nine companies awarded are based in California, and funding resulted in three new post-consumer carpet (PCC) collection sites.
In total, CARE capital grantees produced over 33 million pounds of recycled output and collected over 28 million pounds of PCC in 2021. Micro grantees collected more than 2.5 million pounds last year. (Pictured: A $15,000 CARE micro grant allowed flooring installer union DC 16 Journeymen and Apprentice Training Fund to purchase a carpet tile wrapping machine to package tile for recycling.) New capital grants also opened opportunities for foam-backed tile processing as well as commercial broadloom processing in the state.
Cycle 3 testing grantees, which completed projects in 2021, established several new end products, including glass fiber-reinforced concrete and asphalt and cementitious block applications for PCC. One Cycle 2 grantee is completing designs for a bagged cement product for residential and commercial use.
CARE anticipates launching Cycle 6 of its capital grants program and Cycle 5 of its testing grants program later this month. CARE is also accepting applications under its Cycle 5 Micro Grants for Collection/Reuse through year-end and is accepting proposals under its New Collection Strategies/Small Infrastructure Pilot Program through the end of this month.
|
|
CARE is seeking qualified individuals to join the California Carpet Stewardship Program team. Click the links below to learn more and apply:
|
|
Differential Assessments Take Effect April 1st
|
|
CARE’s differential assessment plan, which CalRecycle has conditionally approved, will take effect on April 1, 2022. The differential assessment is based on two factors: material type – broadloom vs. tile – and the percent of post-consumer (PC) content in new carpet. The plan has four levels of assessment: |
|
Retailer Reminder: CalRecycle Checks for Compliance
|
|
CalRecycle provides enforcement oversight of California's carpet stewardship law. CalRecycle evaluates compliance through various means including, but not limited to, site inspections and documentation checks. Failure to comply with requirements of the carpet law and/or submitting false or misleading information may result in penalties of up to $10,000 per day. See details about the carpet stewardship law and monitor CalRecycle’s website for product compliance at CalRecycle.ca.gov/Carpet. Through the CARE retailer outreach program, CARE helps to make retailers aware of the requirements and be prepared for a visit.
As a reminder, CalRecycle requires:
- All invoices must have the assessment clearly and correctly labeled as a separate line item.
-
Retailers must purchase carpet from carpet manufacturers in compliance with the carpet stewardship law. See the list on the CalRecycle website here.
- Retailers are required by law to monitor CalRecycle’s website to determine if the sale of a manufacturer’s carpet is in compliance with the carpet stewardship law.
-
Retailers must retain records for three fiscal years.
|
|
New Drop-Off Sites Welcomed
|
|
As part of CARE’s efforts to increase carpet collection for recycling across the state, CARE is pleased to announce its latest public carpet recycling drop-off sites:
CARE supports drop-off sites by providing at no cost:
- A container for collection
- Third-party hauling to bring carpet material to recyclers
- Promotional materials for local government and the hosting facility
- Technical assistance from CARE staff
- Ready access to micro grants that support site set-up and collection equipment/infrastructure.
To find the CARE-sponsored drop-off site closest to you, visit the drop-off site map here. If there is a location, such as a supply house, landfill, transfer station, or recycling facility that you feel would work well as a drop-off site for you and other flooring professionals near you, please email CARE with the facility's name and location. A CARE staff person will call you to discuss your volume, learn more about flooring professionals’ needs in your area and work toward finding a solution.
In addition to public drop-off sites, CARE works with the recyclers who operate more than 200 private network collection sites around the state.
|
|
Register Today for CARE's 20th Annual Conference, May 3-4 in Minneapolis
|
|
CARE’s next annual conference, the organization’s twentieth, is scheduled for May 3-4 at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center in downtown Minneapolis.
Confirmed speakers for the 20th Anniversary Annual Conference include:
-
Marketing Insights President Santo Torcivia with a U.S. Economic Update
-
Floor Focus publisher Kemp Harr presents a Flooring Industry Update
-
Romanoff Renovations’ Al Perreca on Sales Trends in Current Installations
-
Eastman Chemical’s Holli Alexander and Jaclyn Shuman with a big-picture look at closed-loop sustainability
-
Tamsin Ettafagh presenting for PureCycle on their unique dissolution technology for the recycling of polypropylene.
-
Frank Endrenyi of Marketing Collaborative will present about the top products and technologies using post-consumer carpet.
Collectors, processors and manufacturers from around the country will discuss developments in technology, operations and economic trends that are shaping the carpet recycling industry’s growth and efficiency.
Don't miss this opportunity to reconnect in person with the industry's innovators, thought leaders and veterans!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
