Approximately 2.7 million tons of carpet and rugs are disposed of annually, representing about 1.2 percent of the municipal solid waste stream. Carpet was an early candidate for product stewardship for several reasons. First, while carpet does not pose a toxicity hazard, it is a bulky item that represents a cost to generators for handling and disposal. Second, certain carpet manufacturers adopted product stewardship as an operating principle, offering early take-back programs and recycled content products. In January, 2002, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by representatives of government agencies, carpet manufacturers, recyclers, and other key participants to increase the amount of reuse and recycling of post-consumer carpet and reduce the amount of waste carpet going to landfills.
