Reusing old carpet
Old carpet - how best to reuse it?
So, we’ve had our sustainably harvested, dust free bamboo flooring laid down…but what to do with the old carpet? How on earth do you re-use 90 square metres of carpet?
Given that our main aim with our renovations is to have an environmentally friendly and sustainable home, starting off by dumping 90 square metres of carpet into landfill just felt wrong! A search on the net yielded a few ideas, and asking around gave a few more.
The lion’s share of it went to the local archery club. Yup, archery – the very first thing you think of when you think of carpet recycling! 
When I was young, I recall archery targets were specially constructed, made of slim “bales” of compressed straw. Nowadays, I understand, targets are constructed from boxes that are filled with multiple layers of carpet. The carpet layers are stiff enough to absorb the impact of the arrows, but soft enough so as not to damage them.
A few rolls of the carpet in better condition was kept for use around the house. In particular:
- I have a filing cabinet for my bills and paperwork that is just crying out to leave big scratch marks on the new bamboo flooring. Cutting a small square of carpet to fit underneath it should solve this problem, and will be concealed by the filing cabinet itself.
- We’ve been discussing the possibility of getting a cat, although that decision is still a little way off. If it does happen, nailing carpet around some pieces of scrap timber will provide a great scratching post, and save the $50 cost of buying one from a pet store.
- There are a few places around the house, especially while we’re setting up, where we could really do with some foot mats to wipe the dirt of our shoes. Rather than buy brand new foot mats, we can make use of squares of carpets.
Of course, many of these uses are quite severe examples of “down-cycling” – the carpet is stepping down in its usefulness and when it has finished being used in this new fashion , it will be even harder to recycle. Eventually it will end up in landfill. Most recycling is like this to more or less of a degree; this is why it’s far better not to consume something in the first place. As the famous slogan goes:
Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. In that order!
Depending on where you live, and what sort of carpet your are getting rid of, you may have other options. In the US, there appears to be quite a mature carpet recycling program that could be worth investigating.
If your carpet is 100% wool, a host of garden uses become available – covering your compost for added warmth, smothering weeds, and a base for sheet mulching. Being an organic substance, it will break down naturally over time, and assuming no sprays or other treatments were applied to the wool, it won’t add any nasties to your soil.
If you’ve got any bright ideas for reusing carpet, feel free to share them in the comments below. Also, has anyone come across ways to reuse the blue foam underlay that lies underneath the carpet? I have to admit defeat on that one so far. Ideas welcome!
Categories: DIY, environment, green, recycle
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April 7th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Freecycle is a great place to find people who want your old stuff. Also community shelters and places like Goodwill and Salvation Army will take things like this, and usually give you a tax credit.
April 28th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
I’ve done a couple paintings with large carpet like rugs that I found in the dumpsters during moveout time at the college. I used old cans of latex paint to prime it. I used the back, but I think you could use either side. It’s kinda heavy, so I laid it on the floor to prime it. I just poured on the paint and spread it out with a flat instrument. I took two by fours and put them on each side along the top, and pounded nais through. This enabled me to hang the canvas easier for painting and on the wall after completion. I hung it from two screws into wall studs, with chain connecting. Its a huge pop art image on about a 10×7 ft size carpet/rug. Every time I moved to a new apartment, I rolled it up. And I should mention, I sealed the painting with a coat of a product called Peal-Stop? that’s designed to keep paint from cracking and flaking off. I roll the painting around the 2×4′s I used to frame it, and try to keep the roll large prevent cracking the paint. It’s heavy but has other benefits. If you stretch thin canvas and it gets pushed in, you don’t have to re-stretch. No stretching involved.
Other possible ideas? 1. Use it to pour concrete pillars or tubes. Carpet is pretty strong if you layer it. Like rolled up newspaper and prison shanks.
2. Use it to cover a geodesic dome structure and then use portland cement over top. Next, sprayfoam insulate the inside. Then build a second dome stucture on the inside of that, with about three foot of space in between the shells. That could act as a service corridor to do all the plumbing and electrical. Use flooring strips to make the triangle panels for the inside walls and floor. On second thought, the cement would sweat and the carpet would rot.