According to carpet industry estimates, approximately 4.7 billion pounds of carpet are discarded in the United States annually (EPA). Of that 4.7 billion, it is estimated that only 3.8% of the carpet waste is recycled. Carpet waste poses a massive challenge for the efficient handling, collection, and recycling of the material due to the bulky nature of the material and the fibers and chemicals used to manufacture carpet.  Difficulty in recycling the material is compounded by the fact that carpet manufacturing and recycling operations are concentrated in the southeastern U.S., and markets for the post-recycled material remain weak (EPA).  As a result, recycling the material is not only logistically challenging, but also it is often not economical.

Photo: David Humber

Recognizing that diverting carpet waste from the landfill has a long way to go,  carpet industry members, along with government officials, and non-governmental organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Carpet Stewardship (MOU), in January, 2002. The agreement set forth a landfill diversion goal of 40% by 2012. They note the MOU is the “the first step in the eventual elimination of land disposal and incineration of post-consumer carpet.” Ze-gen’s Liquid Metal Gasification (LMG) process represents a possible method to increase carpet waste diversion, while using the material in a beneficial manner. The ground-up carpet material may be used as a feedstock, blended with primary feedstock materials, such as a wood waste, to create a high-quality syngas that can be used in a wide range of industrial applications.