Italian company opens first U.S. carpet recycling facility in Phoenix. PLASTICS TODAY US

by:  Clare Goldsberry – Recycling – Sustainability, Consumer Products, Materials  November 15, 2017.

Trento, Italy–based Aquafil, a producer of polyamide (nylon 6), announced the opening of its first carpet recycling facility in the United States. Aquafil Carpet Recycling ACR #1 will invest $10 million in a leased 116,890-square-foot building in Phoenix, AZ, to set up its technology to recycle nylon 6 waste from carpets back into raw material, further enhancing its pioneering Econyl Regeneration System. Aquafil claims that the Econyl Regeneration System is the only technology in the world capable of regenerating nylon 6 from carpets and other waste, including fishing nets.

Each year in the United States, an astonishing four billion pounds of carpet is discarded in landfills, the equivalent of 6,060 humpback whales, the company claims in its announcement. Once it is operational in 2018, ACR #1 will have the capacity to collect and treat 35 million pounds of carpet per year, making a sizeable dent in the waste stream.

“We’re not comfortable with the status quo—less than 5% of carpet waste is recycled,” said Aquafil CEO Guilio Bonazzi. “We know nylon 6 waste can be powerful with the proper technology, and we’re honored to call Phoenix home to that power with ACR #1.”