Article Number : 2053 |
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| Date | 6/12/2007 9:16:52 AM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | //floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=2053 |
| Abstract | Charleston, S.C.—Over 160 people came out for the 5th Annual CARE (Carpet America Recovery Effort) conference, here. This was a 54% increase over the 2006 event... |
| Article | Charleston, S.C.—Over 160 people came out for the 5th Annual CARE (Carpet America Recovery Effort) conference, here. This was a 54% increase over the 2006 event. Spanning three days the event featured several educational and networking opportunities, along with keynote speakers, an awards ceremony and panel discussions. The conference sought to highlight government procurement activities, advances in identification technology, market development updates, advances in materials processing technologies, carpet manufacturers’ programs, CARE updates and the release of the organization’s Annual Report. It also honored the Recycler of the Year and the Person of the Year during the Annual CARE Awards Banquet. “Our goal is always two-fold: to share the latest information and technology, and to afford a networking opportunity,” said Bob Peoples, CARE’s executive director. Both goals were met and exceeded at this year’s conference, he noted. “We held our audience for all three days, and there was tremendous networking taking place throughout.” Peoples also reported a number of key highlights that came out of the meeting, which include: •Mohawk Industries announced the launch of its reclamation program. •Shaw Industries and Champion Polymer announced a partnership. •KeLa Energy Systems announced its new technology for using post-consumer carpet in Synfuel applications to recover coal fines. •The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated it was suspending its work on incorporation of nylon carpet into the Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG) in support of the Green Carpet Standard known as NSF140, a multi-attribute leading sustainable product standard. •Shaw’s Evergreen Nylon Recycling presented an update on its “very successful” restart of the plant and reported 16 million pounds of post-consumer N6 has already been processed. •Matt Hale, division chief of the EPA Office of Solid Waste, announced the creation of a carpet reclamation innovation award to be co-sponsored by the agency and CARE. The award will be presented for the first time next May, for performance in 2007. Awards were given this year, however, to recognize those with strong dedication and implementation to their recycling efforts. CARE broke the Recycler of the Year award into two categories—Large Entity and Small Entity—for the first time this year. InterfaceFlor was honored in the Large Entity category, while the Small Entity category went to CarpetCycle. Lorence Moot, executive vice president of Project Consultants & Associates was given the Person of the Year award. CARE also elected two new board members—Fred Williamson, special projects manager for StarNet, and Brendan McSheehy, vice president of Universal Fibers. So, where does this leave CARE now and in the future? Peoples said, “We are currently tracking on the ‘S’ curve. The projections for 2007 were done based on survey feedback, which we know undercounts. Thus, we are confident we will stay on our projected growth curve.” He added the Evergreen Plant, Mohawk’s program launch and additional operations coming online in the second half of this year were not included in these projections. (Editor’s note: A complete list of how CARE did in 2006 compared to 2005 along with its 2007 projections will be included in the June 18 Statistical Issue) For more information about CARE, call Peoples at 706.846. 1442. |