CARE honors efforts in California and Georgia

Dalton, Georgia-based Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) has announced winners of its Recycler and Person of the Year Awards for 2021. The announcements were made at the organization’s 20th Annual Conference in Minneapolis.

The 2021 Recyclers of the Year are Georgia Carpet Recovery Center, based in East Point, Georgia, and GreenWaste Carpet Recycling of San Jose, California. The 2021 Persons of the Year are Nick Fiore of Lincoln, California-based Circular Polymers and Kent Singleton of the Georgia Carpet Recovery Center.

“This year’s award winners have demonstrated true commitment in the face of relentless challenges, and many of those challenges continue to evolve today,” comments CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples.

Founded by Amir Sahebivani in 1995, the Georgia Carpet Recovery Center has been providing cost-effective, environmentally-sound carpet and pad recycling services since that year, says CARE. In 2018, the facility processed more than 9,000 tons of post-consumer carpet and carpet pad. “Georgia Carpet Recovery Center brought vital services to the heartland of the carpet recycling industry,” says Peoples. “They have evolved and adapted over the last 20 years to stay in business and exhibit the true entrepreneurial spirt on which this country is built.”

GreenWaste Recovery opened GreenWaste Carpet Recycling in 2012 to collect, analyze, sort and process post-consumer carpeting, foam carpet padding, commercial broadloom carpet and carpet tiles in Northern California. “GreenWaste Carpet Recycling is a vital partner to the California Carpet Stewardship Program,” says Peoples. “Their state-of-the-art handling facility supports the aggressive growth we need to continue expanding this program. The discipline they bring as a large player in the recycling, composting and collection system are a critical contributor for support to the carpet recycling community.”

Nick Fiore is president of 2019 CARE Recycler of the Year company Circular Polymers. He helped develop many carpet recycling technologies to explore best practices, according to CARE. Fiore has owned and operated five carpet recycling facilities and currently leads Circular Polymers. “Nick brings a wealth of financial and logistical experience to the management team at Circular Polymers,” says Peoples. “Under his watchful eye, Circular Polymers is the fastest growing carpet recycler in North America, bringing needed innovation to the challenges faced by this industry.”

Kent Singleton retired from General Motors in September 2006 after 32 years there. He then joined Georgia Carpet Processing (later Georgia Carpet Recovery Center) with a mission to improve output and reduce the ash content from 15 percent. The production goals were achieved quickly, but it took more than two years to reduce the ash content to less than 5 percent, says CARE. “Kent demonstrates the true grit of an American entrepreneur,” says Peoples. “Under relentless pressure, he has steered his company through major market upheaval. Times are tough for carpet recycling and Kent has found innovative ways to keep the mission alive.”

Since 2002, CARE says its members have diverted more than 2.5 million tons of carpet from landfills in the United States