The already challenging project of replacing the 13 acres of beloved carpet in the Portland International Airport was complicated even further by the Port of Portland’s ambitious "Five Years to Zero Waste" plan which called for waste diversion of 90% or greater. The “zero waste” initiative caused the Port to maintain sustainability requirements at the forefront of the carpet replacement project and in doing so was able to discover enough different outlets of reuse to recycle all 13 acres of the PDX carpet.
With the original plan to send the carpet to a waste to energy (WTE) facility, 5 acres of the carpet ended up being repurposed as furniture upholstery, batting cage turf, flooring in local buildings and a variety of other novelty goods. The remaining 8 acres of carpet were sent to a facility in California that recycled carpet fibers to make carpet pad. Even when installing the new carpet the Port continued to recycle the rest of the project’s waste.
To learn more about the carpet replacement project and how reuse can be incorporated to a construction project of any size click the button below.