For purposes of completing this request, please use the following definitions.
Carpet as Alternative Fuel (CAAF): Fuel that has been produced from source-separated, and sorted post-consumer carpet and processed, including (1) extraction of components for recycling if at all possible; and (2) size reduction, shredding, and/or blending with coal fines, etc.
Carcass: The remains of a post-consumer carpet, after fiber is sheared or mechanically removed from the carpet face
Cement Kiln: Cement production facility that may use CAAF as a source of energy and/or as an additive for cement production.
Collection: Any method of consolidating and temporarily storing recovered commercial and/or residential carpet.
Disposal Diversion: Carpet removed from the waste stream that was destined for the landfill or incineration, for the purpose of reuse, recycling, CAAF or waste-to-energy.
Disposal Facility: Facilities that are licensed and permitted to provide final disposal for the specific wastes they accept, including waste-to-energy, incineration, and landfilling.
Entrepreneur: Individual or privately-held company which is not a carpet manufacturer, who actively, collects, sorts, processes or manufactures products made from post-consumer carpet.
Filler: Materials such as calcium carbonate, etc. used in the production of carpet backing.
Incineration: Complete burning of material to ashes, with no energy recovery to reduce waste volume.
Landfilling: Landfilling includes the placement of post-consumer carpet and/or the residuals from a post-consumer carpet management method into a landfill disposal facility
Processing: Preparing carpet material for reuse, recycling, CAAF, WTE, or disposal.
Recycling: Transforming or re manufacturing discarded carpet materials into usable or marketable materials, rather than for landfill disposal, incineration, WTE, CAAF, or reuse.
Reuse: Refurbishing and donating/selling recovered carpet back into the market for its original intended use. The reuse of recovered carpet retains the original purpose and performance characteristics of the carpet.
Rural Community: A community with a population of less than 200,000 people.
Sorting: The method used for segregating collected carpet into the various backing types (PVC, SBR Latex, etc.) and/or fiber types (e.g., Nylon 6, Nylon 6.6, Polypropylene and Polyester).
Source Separation: The process by which carpet is separated/segregated from all other materials at the end of its useful life (or when discarded).
Urban Community: A community with a population of 200,000 or more people.
Waste-to-Energy: Process of recovering thermal energy from solid waste through combustion.