Aquafil is committed to reducing carpet waste. Each year, nearly 4 billion pounds of carpets are discarded in U.S. landfills alone. 

By implementing a closed-loop supply chain, Aquafil is able to carry out large-scale carpet recycling initiatives. With four carpet collection facilities, and one carpet recycling plant in Phoenix, AZ, we can each process up to 36 million pounds of carpet annually, breaking them down into three main components: Nylon 6, polypropylene (PP), and calcium carbonate.

• Nylon 6: Sent to the ECONYL® Regeneration Process in Slovenia, along with other waste like reclaimed fishing nets and textile scraps to make ECONYL® nylon for endless uses.
• Polypropylene: An ingredient primarily used for the backing of carpets. It is repurposed into injection-molding production.
• Calcium carbonate: A material mainly utilized to stabilize the carpet. It is repurposed into materials for road construction and concrete.

In Europe, our pioneering partnership with Tarkett extends this closed-loop approach to commercial carpet tiles, too. At its Waalwijk facility, Tarkett has developed technology to separate the two principal components of carpet tiles – yarn and backing – achieving over 95% in yarn purity. This high purity level ensures that polyamide 6 (PA6) is effectively transformed into regenerated ECONYL® nylon.

The partnership is now going full circle, with Aquafil sourcing post-use PA6 yarn from Tarkett to create its regenerated ECONYL® yarn.