Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) announced a record recycling rate for 2023, according to the California Carpet Stewardship Program’s 2023 Annual Report to CalRecycle. 

The California carpet recycling rate was 35% for the year 2023 and reached 41% in Q1 2024, pulling even with the statewide recycling rate for all materials. This annual rate is an 83% increase over 2019’s rate despite economic and operational challenges that have created significant headwinds.

Other achievements in 2023 include:

• 71% Recycling Efficiency Rate: Recycling efficiency refers to the amount of collected carpet that is transformed into recycled products. 
• More than 66 million pounds of old carpet were kept out of California landfills along with 12.5 million pounds of padding.
• 2.4 million pounds of carpet was sent for reuse, enough to cover 68 football fields. CARE helps schools, universities, churches and other organizations to reuse carpet in good condition that has been removed from its original placement. 
• 110 products made by 28 vendors contain post-consumer recycled carpet material. In 2023, the 66 million pounds of recycled carpet material was used in a variety of products in the automotive and construction industries. 
• 137 public drop-off sites for carpet recycling are established in all 58 California counties, three regional distribution centers and over 200 private sites operate across the state. 

“This historically high recycling rate has been reached thanks to the hard work of our dedicated recycler community and the CARE California Team," said CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples. "We have seen a lot of press lately expressing skepticism about recycling, but the California Carpet Stewardship Program is showing tremendous success and uninterrupted growth in the face of multiple challenges. This program is a California success story.”

Carpet can be recycled when properly prepared and brought to a drop-off site that takes carpet for processing and recycling. The challenge is capturing the carpet for recycling before it goes to landfill. The California Carpet Stewardship Program works to increase collection of carpet by enabling and encouraging carpet collection from homeowners, contractors, retailers and collector/sorters. CARE also supports the development of markets for recycled carpet material, which is now included in a variety of products, including automotive parts, house trim and siding, insulation, accessibility ramps, even bullet-resistant walls and doors.

Hear CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples on the recent FLOORtalk Podcast.