by Rebecca Walker — September 27, 2010—Carpet and Rug Institute President Werner Braun praised California’s AB 2398, the Carpet Product Stewardship Billm saying it could “usher in a whole new phase of carpet recycling.”
The bill, sponsored by Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, (D-Los Angeles) represents new thinking in the area of product stewardship in that it incentivizes carpet recycling by rewarding those entrepreneurs and inventors who produce marketable products made from post-consumer carpet.
The bill, which has been passed by both houses of the California Assembly and is awaiting the Governor’s signature, generates revenue through an initial assessment of five cents per square yard of carpet sold in California. Further, manufacturers—either singly or as a group—will be required to establish a stewardship plan with the state for implementing carpet recycling.
Stewardship plans will encompass consumer education efforts, the assessment of fees, and progress measurement and reporting.
To develop their required stewardship plans, manufacturers will work with California regulatory agencies with the help of the Carpet America Recovery Effort, or CARE, a nonprofit organization comprising manufacturers, recycling entrepreneurs, and government environmental agencies that works to find market-based solutions for recycling carpet and diverting it from landfills.
For more information, see the Carpet and Rug Institute Web site.
