Midwestern Workgroup on Carpet Recycling

Midwestern Workgroup on Carpet Recycling

The Midwestern Workgroup on Carpet Recycling was established to address concerns about the growing amount of carpet that is reaching the end of its useful life and entering the waste stream in the Midwest region. Participants in this joint project promoted the idea of product stewardship as a method to address waste carpet.

Participants

The workgroup was originally spearheaded by the states of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin, with involvement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). The initial focus of their work was regional, but their efforts grew to be national in scope.

Meetings were facilitated by Cat Wilt of the Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies, based at the University of Tennessee. The center received funding from U.S. EPA to support conduct research on the status of current take-back programs and recycling in the carpet industry and identify barriers and opportunities to increasing the recovery and recycling of carpet in the Upper Midwest.

The workgroup grew to include 40 representatives from the carpet industry (manufacturers, carpet retailers and recyclers), federal, state and local governments, and non-governmental environmental groups. The final agreement had the support of more than 15 state governments.

Objectives

The Midwestern Workgroup started with ambitious goals.

• Bring parties together involved in the manufacture, sale, installation and end-of-life management of carpet to establish recovery and recycling goals for residential and commercial carpeting in the Upper Midwest.
• Identify how to meet the recovery and recycling goals while minimizing government funding for the end-of-life management costs.
• Establish specific steps which need to occur to increase the recovery and recycling of carpet in the Upper Midwest.
• Encourage development of Upper Midwest businesses when developing strategies to address end-of-life carpet management.
• Identify roles the different parties will play in meeting the recovery and recycling goals for carpet.
• Secure commitments from various parties involved in the manufacture, sale, installation, and end-of-life management of carpet to meet the recovery and recycling goals identified by the Working Group.
• Establish a blueprint for collaboration on carpet recovery and recycling that can be replicated in other regions in the United States.

Workgroup Outcomes

The workgroup finalized its efforts with an agreement that was signed by a representative of the workgroup and the president of the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) in January 2001. |  Agreement (January 2001)

• Third-party Organization | The carpet industry committed to the creation, funding and management of a third-party organization which will be responsible for achieving the negotiated outcomes.
  
  
• Negotiated Outcomes | Government and the carpet industry agreed to negotiate national outcomes for the end-of-life management of carpet. These negotiated outcomes would establish reuse and recycling rates for discarded carpet.
  
  
• Model Procurement Guidelines | Government committed to developing draft model procurement guidelines for carpet. Public entities around the U.S. would adopt these guidelines, which will reward companies offering environmentally preferable products.
  
  

Timeline

Members of the workgroup met six times between February and November 2000 to draft and finalize a national plan to increase the recycling and reuse of discarded carpet.

February 1999	The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA) issues its product stewardship policy proposal and names carpet as one of its three priority products.
September 1999	Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and the U.S. EPA form a partnership to address product stewardship for carpet.
February 2000	First meeting of the Midwestern Workgroup on Carpet Recycling. Workgroup identifies barriers and opportunities to recycling carpet. | Notes | Draft: Current Status of Product Stewardship for Carpet (35K) | Regional Overview: Minnesota, Wisconsin & Iowa (35K)
March 2000	At the second workgroup meeting, four themes were identified for further consideration: central collection, financing, market development and disincentives for landfilling. | Notes
May 2000	At the third meeting, a menu of policy options is developed for each of the four themes from the March meeting. | Notes
July 2000	Fourth meeting: The workgroup agrees upon a financing model which calls for the internalization of reuse and recycling costs into the price of the product. A set of themes for procurement guidelines is determined. | Notes
August 2000	A product stewardship model for carpet is presented and discussed. | Initial Product Stewardship Model
November 2000	Final meeting of the Midwestern Workgroup on Carpet Recycling. Members were presented with a revised product stewardship model for carpet, and were invited to sign a resolution calling for: (1) The creation of a third-party organization to meet reuse and recycling goals; (2) A negotiated outcomes process between government and carpet manufacturers to establish those goals; (3) Model procurement guidelines to adopted by public entities nationally. Resolution on Product Stewardship for Carpet | Revised Product Stewardship Model | Meeting Participants
January 2001	Conclusion of the Midwestern Workgroup on Carpet Recycling. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is signed between the Carpet and Rug Institute and the state governments. | Memorandum of Understanding (January 2001)