The state’s Carpet Stewardship Program 2021 annual report shows gains in recycling rate, yield and collection.
California’s Carpet Stewardship Program, an initiative of Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), Dalton, Georgia, has released its 2021 annual report on carpet recycling rates, which shows significant progress in 2021.
According to a news release from CARE, an organization aimed at increasing postconsumer carpet recovery rates, the program achieved an all-time high recycling rate of 27.9 percent, exceeding the 26 percent goal set in its five-year plan in 2021.
The report states that 76.4 percent of all the carpet collected in California in 2021 was recycled into new products, exceeding the program’s goal of 60 percent. This percentage, called the yield, has grown from 28 percent from 10 years ago. The growth is from expanded processing capacity, expanding markets for postconsumer carpet materials and technological advances, according to the organization.
“2021 was another year of major progress in the face of multiple challenges,” says CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples in a release. “I credit the hard work of the recyclers, retailers, installers and drop-off site staff. Over the years, we have built a robust system for collecting and recycling carpets that is unequaled anywhere. This is the first time the program has met the ambitious goals set forth in the five-year plan, and we are on track to continue this amazing progress.”
According to the California Carpet Stewardship Program’s 2021 Annual Report:
88.5 million pounds of postconsumer carpet collected across the state;
67 million pounds of recycled output produced;
more than 81 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions (MTC02E) were saved;
$23.1 million in subsidies were paid to support collectors, processors and manufacturers of recycled carpet material; and
more than $1.5 million in grant funding was invested in 2021. Since 2017, CARE has paid more than $9.5 million to grow carpet recycling via grants for capital improvement, product testing and collection expansion.
By the end of 2021, 94 CARE-sponsored public drop-off sites were located in the state, with all 58 counties having at least one. This is an increase of more than 200 percent from 44 public drop-off sites in 2017.
Through subsidies, grants and technical assistance, CARE supports increased collection and processing of carpets into products containing recycled carpet material. Twenty-seven vendors currently incorporate carpet in about 103 products, including 10 vendors in California. These products have industrial and retail applications, like automotive plastic components, rubber transition mats, building materials and absorbency products.
Download the 2021 California Carpet Stewardship Program Annual Report here.
The Fremont, California, company’s new center remotely monitors productivity and maintenance needs in facilities using the RecycleOS artificial intelligence system.
EverestLabs, developer of RecycleOS, the first artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled operating system for recycling, has announced the opening of its Robot Operation Center (ROC), the first centralized monitoring service for robotic cells installed in materials recovery facilities (MRFs).
Monitored by the engineering staff at EverestLabs’ headquarters in Fremont, California, and a team in Chennai, India, the ROC helps optimize the performance of EverestLabs’ robotics cells in MRFs worldwide and removes the need for reactive maintenance.
Included in the price of the RecycleOS robotics solution, the ROC is monitored around the clock by a team of engineers and technologists who track productivity and maintenance needs, such as pick efficiency and accuracy, changes in the material stream on conveyor lines due to upstream issues, the need to replace suction cups and more. The linchpin of the ROC is EverestLabs’ RecycleOS at each MRF. RecycleOS is the only full-stack enterprise AI software and robotics solution for recycling plants, consumer packaged goods companies and packaging manufacturers.
“We not only hear from the operations center about necessary robotics cell maintenance proactively, but also about any big swings on materials distribution on the conveyor. As a result, we can address upstream equipment issues (optical sorters, etcetera) at a faster pace,” Director of Operations at Bay Counties SMaRT Jeff Dobert says. “Thanks to this team, our plant operators, shift supervisors and mechanics can focus on other responsibilities around the facility without worrying about robot maintenance.”
Operators at MRFs work hard to keep up with the pace of the materials they receive and process, while also managing equipment and addressing staffing issues. The monitoring service helps deliver maximum recovery with minimal effort from plant operators. As a result, plant operators can focus on running their plant and tending to robotic cells only when needed. MRF operators are experiencing a 25-percent to 40-percent increase in recovery with EverestLabs as there is no unmonitored downtime that can take hours or days to correct.
EverestLabs founder and CEO Jagadeesh Ambati says MRF operators deserve the best robotics software technology can deliver.
“We opened the Robot Operations Center to help MRF operators lead recycling into the 21st century,” he says. “The new center allows us to further provide MRFs with access to full-stack enterprise AI software and robotics that assure vertical integration, efficiency and allow for continuous improvement at plants.”
Meridian Waste says it will transfer the assets and operate from its new hauling location in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Meridian Waste, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based solid waste services company, has closed on the purchase of NC Dumpster LLC, located in Angier, North Carolina. The acquisition is effective Sept. 1, 2022.
The acquired assets from NC Dumpster include seven roll-off trucks, more than 400 roll-off containers, two portable restroom trucks and more than 200 portable restrooms. Meridian Waste says it will transfer the assets and operate from its new hauling location at 110 Rupert Road in Raleigh, North Carolina. The facility is located across the street from Meridian’s former hauling location, which now serves as a container maintenance facility and the portable restroom and auxiliary services operations hub.
As the eighth asset for Meridian Waste in North Carolina, the acquisition densifies collection operations, and builds volume for its Shotwell Construction and Demolition Landfill in Wendell, North Carolina, and at the Lunenburg Municipal Solid Waste Landfill in Lunenburg, Virginia, via the Morrisville Transfer Station in Morrisville, North Carolina.
“Adding NC Dumpster’s team members, rolling stock, container and portable restroom assets to Meridian Waste’s North Carolina business is a benefit on many levels,” says Walter Hall, Meridian Waste’s CEO. “The two owners, Chris Bonfiglio and John Harte built the business from the ground up with two trucks, ownership interest and hard work. Now, 16 years later, they sold us a quality company with a dedicated team of employees who will continue to carry out a firm commitment to clean communities.”
The terms of the asset purchase agreements were not disclosed. This is Meridian Waste’s 24th acquisition since the company transitioned to private stock under the ownership of Warren Equity Partners in April 2018.
The 33-acre Tiverton Landfill is expected to start its $12.5 million closure process by the end of November.
With a two-year extension period ending, the only municipally owned landfill in Rhode Island is gearing up to start its closure process by the end of November, reports The Herald News.
The Tiverton Landfill in Tiverton, Rhode Island, was originally slated to begin its closure and capping process in 2020; however, the town requested an extension, citing the ongoing pandemic and the opening of Bally’s Tiverton Casino as reasons for the delay.
As the landfill begins its closure process, the town of Tiverton will start sending municipal solid waste to the Central Landfill in Johnston—owned and operated by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp.
Capping of the 33-acre Tiverton Landfill with soil will cost the town roughly $12.5 million and will take about a year and a half to complete. The town’s landfill closure fund is still about $2 million shy of that figure.
Tiverton has reportedly been contributing to this fund since 2014 when it first drafted its landfill closure plan. The town has mainly been using proceeds from the sales of authorized trash bags required as part of its pay-as-you-throw curbside waste collection service.
Town Administrator Christopher Cotta told The Herald News that Tiverton plans to continue using the pay-as-you-throw model for curbside collection “to chip away at the rest of the money needed to complete the landfill closure process.” An estimated 7,000 households in the town currently use the town’s curbside collection service.
“We’ve been blessed all these years with our landfill,” Public Works Director Rick Rogers told The Herald News. “We don’t know exactly how many tons we take in in a year. We estimate it but we don’t know. When you go to Johnston, they have a service there. They weigh everything, every truck that comes in, so they know how much you’re dumping.”
Looking toward the future of the Tiverton Landfill, Cotta says the town is looking into the possibility of installing a solar panel farm on the property.
“It’s not a project that we’re looking at going after immediately, but it may be something that when this process is over and done with, we would look at the amount of electricity generate here in town and generate a solar field that would offset the cost of that electricity and pay for itself over time so it’s a net-net for the town,” he says.
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Several industry associations have submitted comments to the GSA in opposition to the proposed rulemaking.
The Washington-based General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal property and serves as the government’s purchasing authority, has proposed to update policies related to single-use plastics in purchased products and in packaging materials.
According to the proposed rulemaking, GSA wants to determine “how to best reduce single-use plastics from packaging while limiting burden and liability” on its industry and logistics partners. The administration intends to use public comments in order to craft requirements and reporting mechanisms to reduce the use of single-use plastics.
GSA initially published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking July 7, seeking public comment on revising its policies by Sept. 6; however, the administration is extending the public comment period to Sept. 27 to provide additional time for interested parties to provide input.
Several industry associations have expressed concerns regarding GSA’s proposal to reduce the use of single-use plastics from packaging.
The Washington-based Plastics Industry Association (Plastics) filed comments to the GSA, expressing concerns that this proposed rulemaking could ban the purchase of single-use plastics by federal government agencies.
“If this proposal moves forward, it will run directly counter to the administration’s environmental goals to reduce emissions,” says Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of Plastics. “This proposal would not only cost taxpayers millions and millions of dollars, it would enforce the use of products and materials that will have a much larger environmental footprint than the plastic products the administration would be looking to phase out.”
Seaholm says Plastics compiled examples for the GSA of how plastics can perform better from an economic and environmental perspective than other available materials.
He adds, “Our industry is investing billions of dollars to recycle more plastic waste in the U.S. We would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the administration to develop effective recycling solutions that reduce plastic waste through smart investments in infrastructure, technology and education.”
The Washington-based American Chemistry Council (ACC) also has expressed concerns related to the GSA’s proposed rulemaking on products containing single-use plastics purchased by the federal government.
ACC’s comments to the GSA state that reducing or banning the purchase of products containing single-use plastics could increase the government’s greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint because lifecycle analysis studies have shown that plastics can lower GHG when compared with alternative packaging materials. Additionally, ACC says this rulemaking could increase waste sent to landfill as alternative materials typically result in items that weigh more than those made with plastics.
The association says it is encouraging the GSA “to follow the science when it comes to product procurement. According to multiple studies, including most recently a report by McKinsey & Co., plastics have a lower GHG impact than alternative materials in 13 out of 14 applications studied. A single-use plastics ban would run contrary to the administration’s important goal of reducing GHG emissions.”