Seattle utilities, King County target carpeting for diversion

June 16 -- Seattle Public Utilities and King County government are targeting used and scrap carpeting for their next landfill diversion effort.

Seattle and King County residents generate 50,000 of scrap carpeting each year and send nearly all of it to landfills, SPU said.

The county Solid Waste Division and SPU organized a carpet recycling committee, including state and local governments and academics from regional universities to form carpet recycling strategies. Their plans, the Northwest Carpet Recycling Strategy, aims to increase demand for carpet recycling and drive demand for materials extracted from scrap carpet.

"There is significant potential to spur economic development by creating an industry to collect and process used carpet into usable commodities," said James Palmer, economic development manager for the Washington State Department of Commerce. "We are also collaborating with manufacturing businesses in the state to find local end markets for the materials derived from recycled carpet."

Included in their plans are product stewardship efforts such as legislation and agreements with manufactures, closed loop recycling efforts and take-back programs.

The committee also hopes to attract a carpet processing facility to the region, officials said.

For more information, visit the "carpet" pages of the King County website at www.kingcounty.gov/linkup.

Contact Waste & Recycling News reporter Amanda Smith-Teutsch at 330-865-6166 or asmith-teutsch@crain.com