Great opportunities for recycling carpets

The good news is that carpets can also be made without hazardous substances. These can be reduced by using non-toxic alternatives. There are also methods to separate the components of carpets again. Currently, however, the use of irreversible gluing often causes contamination of the components, making carpets unusable and unsafe for recycling. In addition, materials are often mixed together, which makes recycling complicated.

Europe is the second largest market for carpets worldwide. The industry is showing willingness to change towards more sustainability and recycling. Market leaders Desso (part of Tarkett) and Interface (the world's largest producer of carpet tiles) want to be completely cradle-to-cradle and reduce environmental impact to 0 by 2020 respectively. They have been researching how to reduce hazardous substances and increase reuse and recycling for years. Joint-venture DSM-Niaga has re-evaluated the entire production process and taken the circular economy as a starting point for the carpet design process.

Challenges

The carpet sector therefore has the potential to become circular. However, one of the main obstacles to recycling carpet remains that most carpet sold today is not designed with reuse and recycling in mind.

An obstacle to transitioning to a circular system is the use of potentially harmful substances in carpet. A report by Anthesis, commissioned by Changing Markets, identifies 59 chemical substances that may be present in carpets and could pose health or environmental risks. Among others, endocrine disruptors, carcinogenic, mutagenic or reproductive toxic substances are sometimes incorporated into pile fibres, backing, adhesives and additives such as flame retardants, dyes, stain-resistant and anti-microbial agents. This makes safe recycling difficult to guarantee because separating carpet components from one another is costly and complicated, and secondary raw materials can become contaminated.

The transition to a safe and circular economy is therefore best started at the design stage and a different approach to the life cycle of carpets.

Design phase

By redesigning the design, many obstacles can be overcome. For example, reduced complexity thanks to the use of mono-materials, for instance, prevents complications due to contamination with unwanted chemicals. Eliminating the need for harmful additives also makes recycling a lot easier. Striving to use safe alternatives, which exist thanks to clever innovations, instead of harmful substances would also be positive. When mechanical recycling is sufficient to safely process end-of-life carpets into secondary raw materials, recycling becomes more cost-effective.

Circular business model

The challenge lies in increasing transparency about substances. By making this information available throughout the carpet's life cycle, it is possible to verify what people may be exposed to and how it should be maintained. It also clarifies how the processing and decoupling of components should take place, what secondary raw materials it yields and where they can be used again.

The collection of carpets could already be established at the time of carpet sale, so that valuable secondary raw materials remain in sight and can be retrieved.

In summary, Recycling Netwerk Benelux believes that discussions with all stakeholders in the chain can offer great perspectives for taking further steps in making the carpet sector more sustainable in line with the ambitions of the European Commission's Circular Economy Package and the Dutch Circular Economy Transition Agenda.