California Recycles 37% of Its Carpet. That Number Took Fifteen Years

Carpet is one of the worst products to recycle: a laminate of face fibre, backing, adhesive and filler, glued together, installed for a decade and removed filthy. California made manufacturers responsible for it anyway.

Under AB 2398, carpet manufacturers fund and operate the recycling system through Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE). A per-square-yard assessment paid at the point of sale funds collection infrastructure, subsidies to processors and a drop-off network.

Subsidies. Recycled carpet fibre - mostly nylon 6 and nylon 6,6, recovered as pellets for automotive and industrial mouldings - does not reliably beat virgin resin on price. The per-pound subsidy CARE pays processors is what keeps the collection economics positive. Remove it and the rate falls.

Three structural limits. Carpet is bulky and low-value per tonne, so haulage distance caps the catchment of any processor. Product design still favours materials that cannot be separated cleanly. And drop-off depends on installers choosing to divert rather than skip, which depends on the drop-off site being closer than the landfill.

That EPR works, slowly, and mostly by moving money. Fifteen years produced a functioning collection network and a real rate from a standing start - which is genuinely impressive and also a warning to anyone expecting a new EPR law to change outcomes within a budget cycle. New York, Illinois and others are drafting carpet stewardship bills; the California experience says budget for a decade and design the fee to actually cover the subsidy gap.