May 2025

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CARE Conference: Day One Recap and Person of the Year 

CARE’s 23^rd Annual Conference kicked off on Tuesday, May 20th, with a full day of sessions and announcement of the Person of the Year award. The Conference is taking place in Oceanside, California with the theme, “Carpet Recycling: Riding the Sustainability Wave.”

The Conference opened with an inspiring presentation from John Warner, head of Technology Greenhouse. Known as the father of green chemistry, Warner (pictured above) urged the audience to create or embrace technologies that are in harmony with nature to move more quickly towards a truly circular economy.

Subsequent presentations included:

• Plastics Industry Association Chief Economist Perc Pineda describing the evolving economic conditions that require added resilience from the industry.
• Exciting updates on fiber identification technology from Martin Holicky of Matoha with conference veteran Frank Endrenyi.
• A panel on real circular solutions – and opportunities – for commercial carpet tile with John Mello of Conference Premier Sponsor BTR Flooring & Recycling along with Preston Poag of Mohawk and Bailey Robin, co-founder of Matium.
• Dr. Matthew Realff of Georgia Tech described latest results from CARE's annual survey.

The afternoon concluded with lively roundtable discussions of various hot topics. Conference presentations will be posted on the CARE website in coming weeks.

At the evening’s reception, CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples announced that the 2024 Person of the Year award goes to Kasey Wakefield, long-time president and co-owner of venerable and highly successful Kruse Carpet Recycling in Indianapolis, Indiana. Kruse Carpet Recycling was founded in 1997 by Kasey’s father, Richard D. Kruse, who officially opened his operations in 1997. A graduate of DePauw University, Kasey Wakefield has been an important voice for the recycling community since joining the CARE Board in January 2017. According to Peoples, “This is the first time a generational recognition is taking place, since Dick Kruse was the CARE Person of the Year in 2016. Dick has shared that he is extremely proud of his daughter. And CARE is fortunate to have this talented family continue their Board engagement.”

Day Two of the Conference will be covered in the June e-news.

Work with CARE! Program Associate Position Open

CARE is seeking a highly motivated and organized Program Associate to assist the Program Director, Senior Associates, and Marketing Development team in advancing the California Carpet Stewardship Program's goals. The ideal candidate will provide administrative, operational, and programmatic support to ensure the successful implementation of initiatives that increase carpet collection, recycling, reuse, and remanufacturing across California.

CARE offers an excellent opportunity for an individual passionate about sustainability, recycling, and environmental stewardship to contribute to a dynamic and impactful program.

See the full listing and application here.

CARE Completes Post-Consumer Carpet Characterization Study

The California Carpet Stewardship Program made significant progress toward advancing circularity in post-consumer carpet (PCC) recycling by taking a detailed, data-driven look at the PCC waste stream. During November 2024, the Program conducted a comprehensive characterization study at the four largest carpet processor and collector/sorter facilities across California.

Commissioned by CARE, MSW Consultants carried out the study by examining representative samples of landfilled, pre-processed carpet material gathered over one- to two-week periods. Each sample was meticulously sorted and weighed to determine the proportion of various categories by total material weight. Interviews were conducted with each facility to understand the rationale behind material disposal decisions, which informed the final classification of material types.

Results varied widely between facilities, reflecting differences in operational practices and available end-use markets. However, some common patterns emerged. The materials most frequently disposed of, based on total weight, were:

• Wool and jute (25%)
• Unacceptable backing types (12%)
• Carpet with excessive adhesive/glue (4.9%)
• Materials disposed for undetermined reasons (5%)
• Mixed fiber faces (0.1%)

Residential carpet was most often discarded for these reasons, followed by carpet tile and commercial broadloom. 

While this study offers only a snapshot of PCC material flows, it provides a valuable baseline. CARE plans to continue characterization studies in future years under the 2023–2027 Carpet Stewardship Plan to further advance material recovery and design for recyclability.

CARE Welcomes New Public Drop-off Sites

CARE welcomes three new public drop-off sites this month:

• Anderson Landfill, Anderson, Shasta County
• Brent’s Carpet One Floor & Home, Newhall, Los Angeles County
• Target Carpet, Downey, Los Angeles County

There are currently 163 CARE public drop-off sites servicing all 58 California counties.

A new independent drop-off site, ProFloors in Hayward, Alameda County, was also added. In addition to public drop-off sites, CARE works with the recyclers who operate some 220 private collection sites around the state.

CARE supports drop-off sites by providing at no cost:

• A container for collection
• Third-party hauling to transport carpet material to recyclers
• Promotional materials for local government and the hosting facility
• Technical assistance from CARE staff
• Ready access to micro grants that support site set-up and collection equipment/infrastructure.

To find the CARE-sponsored drop-off site closest to you, visit the drop-off site map. If there is a location, such as a supply house, landfill, transfer station or recycling facility that you feel would work well as a drop-off site for you and other flooring professionals near you, please email CARE with the facility's name, location and business phone number. A CARE staff person will call you to discuss your volume, learn more about flooring professionals’ needs in your area and work toward finding a solution.

CARE on the Road

In late April, California Program Director Thomas Coates attended the Starnet Conference in Carlsbad, CA, where he interacted with dozens of commercial carpet retailers, many of whom were familiar with, and appreciative of CARE’s efforts.

This month Rob Thiess (pictured) and Teddy Stray held “Lunch and Learn” presentations for staff of construction companies BCCI and Webcor to discuss CARE’s progress around commercial tile collection and recycling.

CARE staff also tabled at the Sustainable Facilities Forum in Sacramento to spread the word about carpet recycling to public sector facility managers.

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