The Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its California Carpet Stewardship Grant Program – marking a decade of strategic investment, market development and infrastructure expansion that has dramatically increased the state’s capacity to collect, process and recycle post-consumer carpet (PCC). As one indicator of the grants’ impact, the carpet recycling rate for the state has soared from 11 percent in 2016 to 37 percent in 2025, a rate of growth unmatched anywhere.
Since launching the grants in 2016, CARE’s California program has awarded 98 grants to 79 entities, totaling approximately $12 million, catalyzing new recycling facilities, supporting product innovation and expanding collection access across the state.
Building Recycling and Collection Capacity in California
Over the past decade, CARE has made targeted capital investments to expand in-state processing and manufacturing capacity. Through 36 Capital Improvement Grants awarded to 21 entities, the program has helped launch and scale major recycling and manufacturing operations.
Among the most notable achievements are:
- Ongoing support of Circular Polymers in Lincoln, California, which became the first Northern California PCC recycling facility via a 2016 CARE grant investment.
- Supporting the launch of both Aquafil Carpet Recycling and Kian Green Up processng and manufacturing facilities in California.
- Investment in three California-based downstream manufacturers incorporating recycled PCC into finished goods.
Cumulatively, CARE’s capital investments have driven grant-supported PCC output growth from 5 million pounds annually in 2016–17 to nearly 50 million pounds annually in 2023–25. New investments made in 2025 are expected to grow recycled or manufactured output by another 15 million pounds annually.
Capital Improvement grants have supported collection growth by over 20 million additional pounds annually and recent investments expect to add another 13 million additional pounds annually. The program kickstarted three new PCC collectors in the state, bringing total CARE public Dropoff Sites to 174 at the end of 2025.
Grants in Modest Amounts Lead to Big Payoffs
CARE’s Micro Grants for Collection and Reuse have supported dozens of existing or new public collection sites, increasing convenience, access and PCC collections by 13.6 million pounds annually. The Micro Grants (up to $15,000 each) have also supported two new reuse hubs in the state, tripling carpet tile reuse from just a few hundred thousand pounds to over 3 million pounds of reuse annually.
Driving Innovation and Sustainable Product Design
Beyond infrastructure, CARE has invested in market development and innovation to address material bottlenecks, particularly for post-consumer carpet calcium carbonate backing (PC4) and PET fiber streams.
Product Testing and Innovation & Design Grants
- 13 Product Testing Grants and 6 Innovation & Design Grants were awarded.
- More than $1.08 million was allocated to Product Testing projects.
- $492,000 was awarded for Innovation & Design initiatives.
These grants have supported field trials and commercialization efforts across multiple sectors, including:
- New PCC-content products entering the marketplace, such as lightweight aggregate and ballistic barriers.
- Carpet and carpet-tile designs that improve recyclability and sustainability.
- Fiber-agnostic applications to absorb challenging material streams.
- Testing of advanced fiber identification technologies to improve material sorting and processing efficiency.
By funding laboratory work, pilot manufacturing runs and applied research partnerships, CARE has helped companies move recycled PCC from concept to commercial reality.
Published May 2026
