Whether it's a carpet you are changing or the off-cuts of a carpet used to furnish your house, the question of disposal will always arise. You will want to make sure you are disposing of your carpet in an environmentally friendly way as most carpets do contain plastic. And if left in a landfill can be toxic and won't degrade for centuries.
Old carpet disposal
As with everything, it's always best to try and find a way to use plastic goods for as long as possible to increase their lifespan. Avoiding putting any in landfill should be your main concern when disposing of things, so please try and always use the most eco-friendly way of disposing of your carpet.
What to do with an old carpet
When it comes to getting rid of your carpet there a several options to consider before disposing of it. Here are a few for you to contemplate.
Donate your Carpet
If your carpet is still in at least semi-good condition, with minimal stains and smells, most charities will accept them. They will be looking to either sell or to use in rehousing schemes. Donating the carpet this way gets it off of your hands but also helps out someone less fortunate.
You can also donate your carpet and carpet scraps to some animal shelters. They use carpets in many of their kennels as well as in some fun toys for the animals. So your old carpet could help out our fury friends.
Sell your Carpet
If your carpet is in good usable condition you could try selling it on an online marketplace, such as Facebook, Ebay or Gumtree.
There will always be people wanting some carpet; not only for their home but perhaps a shed, garage or like mentioned about for their pets.
Recycle your Carpet
Recycling a carpet is a rather difficult task and won't be able to be carried out by anyone. It would take a professional to divide the carpet into its separated compounds and be able to recycle them. There are local companies online that are focused on recycling carpets and it would be working to have a quick Google search to see if there are any near you.
Reuse your Carpet
If none of the above is an option for you, you could always try and repurpose the carpet yourself. There are many things you can make or keep it for. You can spruce up your garage by adding a carpeted floor, you can create a cat scratching poll to stop them from tearing up your sofa. If you have small offcuts, you can use those as small cleaning tools such as scrubbers etc.
Before passing on your old carpet make sure to remove any hazardous loose nails or tacks from the underside and roll up safe and securely.
Can you take old carpet to the dump?
One of the most common methods for disposing of old carpet or off-cuts is to hire a skip or just throw it away at the dump. However, just because something is common or easy, doesn't make it the right thing to do.
Carpet contains synthetic fibres which are extremely hard to decompose and will take around 1,000 years to break down in landfill. Not only is this a very bad way of getting rid of things we no longer need, but it also is very toxic to the environment and should be avoided at all costs.
Only use this method if it's your last resort and nothing else is possible. Try selecting one of the above options mentioned has a far more eco-friendly alternative.
