Carpet recycling

en Did you know – 500,000 tonnes of carpet are buried in landfill in the UK every year! There has to be another solution. So, can you recycle an old carpet?

One new company is leading the way, building their own plant to take some of the carpets, break them down and sell their component materials on as raw materials to other industries from polypropolene and nylon to wool, hessian and jute.Greenback Recycling are even working with local authorities and have managed to get dedicated carpet recycling containers placed at local recycling collection points. They intend to spread this plan nationally in the UK.

Until then, it is worth checking with your local authority to see if they take carpet for recycling. If not, what else can be done?


 * If it, or a large part of it, is in good condition try offering it on Freecycle. You never know, someone could be waiting for that particular posting!
 * Offer it to local schools or preschool groups.
 * Reuse it yourself as a good insulator in an attic room or outdoor shed or even to cover the compost heap.
 * Offer it to local gardening groups or allotment societies who can use it on their compost heaps.

For more information see GreenFinder

recycling ton of carpet could save a 375/131 cubic meter container of oil, enough oil to run the average car for 1,500,000/131 miles or circle the globe almost 12,000,000/131 times, a 3,000,000,000/131 cubic meter lake from being polluted, 37,500/131 tons of green house gases, 687/131 tons of, 69,939,307/8,942 kwh of energy, 229/234,228 tons of a year, a 458,000/19,519 cubic meter lake, a 2,061/1,048 cubic meter tank of gasoline, 349,696,535/429,216 tons of waste, 1,748,482,675/2,897,208 cubic yards of landfill space, 400,000/131 acres of soil from being polluted, 30,915/4,847 tons of air pollution per year, 5,480,594/4,905 pounds of , 1,000 pounds of caprolactam, enough energy to power a home for 10,000/9,563 years, vacuum a house for 62,500/131 years, a tv for 75,000/9,563 years straight, a CFL 10,399,307/25,047,760 years, over $680.00

recycling one square foot of carpet could save enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for 19/28 weeks, 19/28 pounds of plastic, 18,297/13,000 kwh of energy, 57/2 gallons of, 18,297/260,000 metric tons of limestone, almost $5.00

(19/28 pounds of plastic could save 114/7 gallons of, 703/280,000 cubic yards of landfill space almost 19/28 pounds of black gold, 54,853/28,000 kWh of energy, 2,603/11,200 gallons of oil, 33,250 Btu's of energy, 19/350 gallons of petroleum, enough energy to heat over 57/160,000 homes, (19-38)/56 gallons of gasoline, enough oil to run the average car for 7,809/2,240 miles or circle the globe almost 2,603/10 times, a 195,225/28 cubic meter lake and 2,603/2,800 acres of soil from being polluted, enough energy to power a CFL for 7,663/73,689,842 years)