This partnership has implemented a national agreement that sets goals for increasing the amount of carpet that is recycles. One result of this cooperative effort has been the creation of entire industry that is built around the collection and recycling of used carpet materials.

A new home, freshly decorated and that new carpet looks great and feels nice under your feet. Wall to wall carpet, also referred to as tufted carpet, is still the most popular choice in floor covering for home and commercial applications. In fact, carpet accounts for over seventy percent of all flooring covering sales in the United States and tufted or wall to wall carpet represents over ninety percent of all the carpet sold.

Now let us look at those numbers another way. According to the Carpet and Rug Institute, an industry trade association, if you calculate all of the carpet sold in the United States and convert it to the number of pounds sold you come up with a staggering nine billion pounds. Now that is a lot of carpet not mention the other materials needed to install, clean and maintain all that new carpeting.

The business of carpet can have a tremendous impact on the environment. Have you ever considered what happens to the carpet that is replaced every year? Most of the over 4 billion pounds of carpet that is replaced every year goes to the landfill. The costs associated with properly disposing of all the used carpet can be felt by consumers, carpet sellers and installers as the cost of taking discarding carpet to local landfills continues to rise every year.

Since carpet sellers and installers tend to pass cost increases for disposal the consumer feels a bigger pinch. There is no telling how much used carpet is disposed of in ways that are less than legal or less than friendly to the environment.

While some types of carpet fiber and backing materials is more recyclable than others, there is now a nationwide network of locations that provide recycling service. The result has been a steady decease in the amount of used carpet materials that end up in the local landfill. On the other end of the carpet cycle, producers are working to incorporate more recycled carpet fiber into their products.

It is important to note that the move toward increased recycling has been driven by more than just dollars and cents since many consumers are increasingly concerned about the environment. Consumers have become more conscious of the impact their buying choices have on the environment and many of us are adjusting their spending habits as a result.

There are things you can do as a consumer to initiate a positive change. If you choose to use a carpet product for your home or business be sure to ask the seller and the installer if they participate in a carpet recycling program. Selecting a quality, long wearing carpet product that is appropriate for the location, will help reduce to the need to replace your carpet. Since a greater variety of carpet products are made from recycled materials, select a carpet that has the highest available amount of recycled content.

Remember that by properly cleaning and maintaining your carpets you can extend the life of the product and make sure you or your carpet cleaning professional properly disposes of any waste water and left over cleaning chemicals.