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The California Carpet Stewardship Program has completed a new study that outlines challenges and opportunities in achieving a critical environmental milestone: reaching a 60% gross carpet collection rate by 2027. This ambitious target, established in the Program’s 2023–2027 Five-Year Plan, would significantly boost the amount of carpet collected for recycling across the state.
The study, conducted by Blue Strike Environmental with support from CARE, synthesizes available data, policy analysis, and extensive stakeholder input from surveys, interviews and focus groups. While gross collection rates have improved dramatically—from 43% in 2022 to a projected 60% by 2027—declining carpet sales pose a challenge. Even at higher collection rates, the total volume of recovered carpet is expected to decrease slightly (from 93 million to 89 million pounds in 2027), highlighting the need to adjust the Program’s targets and formulas accordingly.
CARE public drop-off site collection has emerged as a key success. Since 2012, the number of public sites has grown from 6 to 163, with total collections from them increasing by 112% in the past four years alone. CARE public drop-off sites now account for over 25% of gross collection. However, private site collection volume has plateaued, suggesting that additional data and support in this area is crucial for further progress.
To guide efforts, the study presents eight high-level themes, supported by 40 strategies and 150 specific actions tailored to different stakeholder groups. Key recommendations include expanding the number of drop-off sites, enhancing private collection from retailers and job sites, and boosting data analysis for program optimization.
CARE has prioritized five strategies from the study to build further progress toward the 2027 target and beyond.
CARE will publish the complete study this summer.
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