RECOMMANDATIONS POUR SORTIR D'UN GRAND GÂCHIS

The report examines the carpet sector's failure to transition from a linear to a circular economy, highlighting that most carpets in Europe are incinerated or landfilled. It specifically critiques industry leaders Desso and Interface for 'greenwashing,' noting a significant gap between their sustainability goals and actual collection rates. The document also identifies the event industry as a major source of single-use carpet waste and proposes systemic changes in eco-design, collection infrastructure, and public policy to enable genuine closed-loop recycling.

• The European carpet market produces approximately 1.6 million tonnes of used carpet waste annually, the vast majority of which is sent to landfills or incinerators.
• Actual recycling rates in the European carpet sector are extremely low, with authors estimating that less than 3% of tonnage is collected for recycling, much of which is 'downcycling' into lower-quality products.
• Industry leaders Desso and Interface exhibit a significant gap between their public sustainability commitments and operational reality; Desso's 2015 collection rate was only 3% of its sales, while Interface's European collection rate is estimated at 1.5%.
• The 'Optimum' program in France is criticized for misleading communication, as it presents the transformation of carpets into solid recovered fuels (SRF) for cement kilns as 'recycling' when it is actually thermal recovery.
• The event sector is identified as a peak of resource waste, where low-quality 'disposable' carpets are used for only a few hours or days and almost never recycled.
• Eco-design is a critical barrier to circularity; most carpets are only partially recyclable because the adhesives used to bond fibers to the secondary layer make separation economically unviable.
• Recycling 100 square meters of carpet can divert approximately 243 kg of waste from landfills, save 193 liters of oil, and avoid 445 kg of CO2 emissions.
• The report recommends that public authorities in France produce a report on the potential for carpet reuse and recycling in accordance with Article 101 of the Energy Transition Law.

APA

Changing Markets Foundation (2017). RECOMMANDATIONS POUR SORTIR D'UN GRAND GÂCHIS. https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/French-carpet-report.pdf

Chicago

Changing Markets Foundation. RECOMMANDATIONS POUR SORTIR D'UN GRAND GÂCHIS. 2017. https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/French-carpet-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Changing Markets Foundation |title=RECOMMANDATIONS POUR SORTIR D'UN GRAND GÂCHIS |date=February 2017 |url=https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/French-carpet-report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{changingmarketsfoundation2017recommandations, author = {{Changing Markets Foundation}}, title = {{RECOMMANDATIONS POUR SORTIR D'UN GRAND GÂCHIS}}, institution = {Changing Markets Foundation}, year = {2017}, month = feb, url = {https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/French-carpet-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }