Market Development for Carpet

Opportunities exist to gain value from carpet waste; much of it is readily recyclable. Nylon fiber, the most promenent type of carpet fiber, is a valuable polymer and can be used in many different applications.

Efforts are underway nationally to increase the options for recycling waste carpet, as well as using components to make new products using recycled content.

There is a number of options for managing waste carpet: direct reuse, refurbishment, recycling fiber into other plastic products, recycling carpet backing into new carpet backing, and "carpet-to-carpet recycling."

Manufacturing products from waste carpet

Recovered materials from waste carpet can be recycled into a variety of new products.

The carpet industry has devoted considerable time and effort into finding end uses for waste carpet. All of the major manufacturers of carpet and face fiber have committed many resources into developing processes for recycling post-consumer and post-industrial fiber. Many new and innovative products have been produced; here are a few examples:

• Carpet backing | Collins & Aikman
• Carpet tiles | INVISTA
• Remanufactured carpet tiles | Milliken & Co.
• Carpet cushion | Beaulieu of America, INVISTA
• Construction sheeting | Nycore, NyloBoard LLC
• Plastic lumber (C'board)
• GeoHay for erosion control | Mary Ann Industries
• Commercial nylon with recycled content | Mohawk Industries
• Automobile parts | INVISTA
• Engineering resins | Wellman, Inc.

Additional information on recycled products from carpeting is posted on the CARE website: www.carpetrecovery.org.

Market development efforts in Minnesota

Ny-Board is a construction sheet that is rot- and pest-resistant, making it a competitive alternative to treated plywood.

Nycore, Inc. (formerly Nylon Board Manufacturing) is currently the only facility in Minnesota manufacturing products from recycled carpet. Located in Medford (about 45 minutes south of Minneapolis/St. Paul), Nycore is producing Ny-Board, an extruded 4' x 8' sheet of plastic resin made from recycled carpet that is marketed as a substitute for plywood in a wide variety of applications. Ny-Board is available at select Menards retail stores.

Production is currently in its early stages; at full capacity, the facility will be able to recycle 25 million pounds of carpet annually. NBM processes post-industrial carpet face fiber from carpet mills, both Nylon 6,6 and Nylon 6. NBM also processes pre- and post-consumer carpet from some commercial sources. Carpet will be accepted at no cost if bales meet specifications for sorting and cleanliness (free of debris, minimal moisture content.)

For more information on Nycore, call plant manager Phil Davison at 507-451-0484. For information on opportunities for market development or carpet collection in Minnesota, contact the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance: Tina Patton (651-215-0214) or Wayne Gjerde (651-215-0270).

Last update: August 2006