Where does your old carpet end up?

Inside Living Lab CARPET Balta, Belysse, Centexbel, Cobot, Designregio Kortrijk, Fedustria, IMOG, Material Mastery and Weerwerk are working together on solutions for end-of-life carpets (End-of-Life, EoL). The focus is on reuse, repair, refurbishing, remanufacturing and using carpet in other applications (re-purpose).

In this article, the first findings about monitoring EOL carpets are shared. An important first step was to identify where old carpets end up and what quality they have. This helps to assess which of the circular strategies mentioned are feasible. To do this, both recycling parks and thrift stores were interviewed.

Recycling parks

The first results from recycling parks are partly positive. Although most of the collected carpet is eventually incinerated, carpet is collected separately in some locations. This is promising because:

  1. There is a separate stream for carpets.
  2. Screening is taking place to improve the quality of collected carpet.
  3. Carpets in good condition may be reusable after cleaning.

The table below shows the amount of carpet collected in 15 IMOG (Intermunicipal Society for Public Health) recycling parks.

In the Imog region, with a population of 250,000, an average of 135 tons of carpet are collected each year. Extrapolation to the whole of Flanders (6.6 million inhabitants) provides a potential of 3,564 tons, and 6,264 tons for Belgium (11.6 million inhabitants). A broader study is planned to determine whether these figures are representative of other regions.

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Preliminary conclusions

The preliminary analyses point to three different residual flows, each with its own characteristics and challenges:

  1. Recycling park (heavily soiled carpet):
    Carpets in poor condition are processed directly as residual waste and incinerated.
  2. Recycling park (carpet collected separately):
    Better quality carpets are collected separately, but currently also often end up in incineration plants. However, this is where there is potential for circular applications, such as repair, refurbish or repurpose.
  3. Kringwinkel (rugs):
    The focus is on selling good-looking rugs. However, unsold copies are often burned. This offers opportunities for reuse, given the limited time they are in the store.

Need for treatment:
All carpets with circular potential require initial treatment, such as vacuuming or washing, before further steps can be taken.

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With these insights, Living Lab CARPET is taking an important first step towards sustainable solutions for carpets at the end of their lifespan. Further studies and surveys will help refine these insights and define concrete actions.

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Source: https://www.fedustria.be/en/projecten/living-lab-carpet

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Living Lab CARPET is a VLAIO-funded project in collaboration with: Balta, Belysse, Centexbel, Cobot, Designregio Kortrijk, Fedustria, Weerwerk, and Material Mastery.