Carpet has a relatively short life expectancy compared to other floor coverings (approximately 8 years). Every year in the U.S., 1.8 million tons of carpeting is sent to landfills. Many leading carpet manufacturers have been changing their industry to eliminate this kind of waste.

In January, 2002, many manufacturers voluntarily signed the National Carpet Recycling Agreement (NCRA) which encourages them to accept product stewardship and accountability. They have established a third party organization, the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) to establish collection systems for used consumer carpet. They are evolving technologies for reclamation of carpeting through reuse and recycling. Innovations also include making reclaimed content backings, or no backing needed.
Most recycled carpets produced today can be "repurposed” (cleaned and refurbished for reuse) or “down-cycled” (made into products other than carpet or into carpeting of lesser quality). The higher the recycled content, the more sustainable the carpeting. Technology is rapidly improving to convert used fiber into new recycled content face fibers. As more used carpeting becomes available and manufacturing plants adapt their facilities, the percent of recycled post-consumer content should increase. Post-industrial content, however, will drop as companies become more efficient at reducing waste in the manufacturing process and have less post-industrial waste to recycle.
Recycling Nylon: Newest among the innovations is nylon 6 recovery and recycling back into equal quality nylon 6. Nylon 6,6 is made of two elements that can't be separated for reuse. Carpeting made from nylon 6,6 can only be down-cycled or repurposed. Carpeting made from nylon 6 is easily depolymerized. 99% of it can be recovered and made again into nylon 6 carpet yarn of equal quality to the original.
Recycled PET: Recycled PET polyester is made from post-consumer plastic soda bottles. Recycled PET is superior to lower grades of virgin synthetic fibers used in making other polyester carpet yarns. Shades can be richer and brighter than those found in nylon yarns. At this time, there are no programs to recycle used PET carpet back into new carpet, but fibers can be recycled for other applications (car parts, insulation, transportation devices, and stuffing for furniture). The EPA’s recommendations for recovered material content for polyester face fiber is listed as 25-100% PET resin.
To best ensure that you get the product you want, it is important to note that the recycling logo on manufacturer’s specifications or other literature can mean that the carpet is only recyclable, and not necessarily that it contains recycled content.
LEED points: possibly MR Credit 2 - Construction Waste Management, MR Credit 3 - Resource Reuse, or MR Credit 4 for recycled content materials.