California bill AB 863, “Carpet and flooring recycling: producer responsibility organizations: fines: succession: training” (Aguiar-Curry), is now in print with significant and unjustified changes from previous versions, awaiting a third reading in the Senate. The bill proposes the establishment of a producer responsibility program for flooring, to include carpet, artificial turf and resilient flooring; the new producer responsibility organization (PRO) would replace the current California Carpet Stewardship Program. There are numerous requirements around convenience, fees, funding and more that will have enormous implications for all flooring industry stakeholders in the state.

CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples stated:

“The carpet program is highly successful and continuing to expand. 2023 results had a recycling rate of 35%, beating the target of 31%. The 2024 target is 34% and Q1 registered 42%, matching the California 2022 statewide recycling rate for all materials. Since 2015 this program has been on an amazing growth trajectory. Why are we trying to 'fix' something that works? In 2023, CARE met or exceeded 12 of 13 targets. We achieved 95% of the last target, missing only due to the Q4 market contraction that impacted all recycling. Since the program started, CARE recyclers have diverted more than 1.2 billion pounds (600,000 tons) of old carpet from California landfills. In addition, 100 million pounds (50,000 tons) of old carpet padding have been diverted from California landfills. Given all the success of the existing CARE program, I strongly urge you to oppose this legislation that would, if passed, destroy the program in its current form.”

CARE encourages all stakeholders to familiarize themselves with the updated bill and to communicate with their representatives.

For more CARE news, click here.