This report compares preliminary estimates for the climate change impacts of four methods currently used to manage carpet discards generated by households and construction and demolition (C&D) activities:
- Recycle via mechanical and/or chemical methods, with or without the use of heat, into constituents which can be used for manufacturing new carpet components or other products such as automobile body parts.
- Recover energy via combustion in an industrial boiler as a substitute for coal.
- Recover energy via combustion in a waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration facility.
- Landfill.
This report also discusses very preliminary results for six other categories of environmental impacts for scrap carpet recycling:
- Acidification
- Eutrophication
- Human Health – Particulates
- Human Health – Toxicity
- Human Health – Carcinogenicity
- Ecosystems Toxicity