Page 11 - May/June 2015 Vol. 33 No. 1
P. 11
KNOX COUNTY By Maura Connolly
Carpet Recycling a Win-Win

While carpet recycling has yet to be- Recycling location off of North Cherry And the county benefits as well. While
come a mainstream sustainable process Street in Knoxville. The Chaffins chose landfill diversion is the big picture goal,
across Tennessee, it is doing some serious Knoxville because it was a big city “not diverting from the construction and de-
landfill diverting in Knox County. Since too far from home,” with several pre- molition (C&D) containers improves the
partnering with Southeastern Recycling established clients. In their first full year of day-to-day operation of the convenience
last August, Knox County Solid Waste has collecting carpets, Knoxville’s Southeast- centers.
recycled 99.5 tons of carpet and carpet ern Recycling collected 3,024,000 pounds
padding that previously would have been of carpet. Johnson explains: “Bulky (C&D) con-
sent to a Class III landfill. tainers fill up really quickly, mostly from
While that is a significant amount—and carpet and mattresses, and carpets tend to
Knox County Recycling Coordina- every bit counts when it comes to landfill jam up the compactors.”
tor Zach Johnson first found out about diversion— the Chaffins are convinced
Southeastern Recycling after overhearing they could, and should, be getting much Collecting carpet in a separate container
talks of their attempts to partner with the more. “We should be able to keep 10 allows the C&D box to fill up more slowly
City of Knoxville’s transfer station. While million [pounds] out of the landfill in and get pulled less often, making it avail-
that partnership fell through, Johnson was Knoxville,” said Chad. able longer in the day for more people to
excited by the potential of such a partner- use.
ship with the county. Chase explained that the biggest chal-
lenge they’ve been facing is convincing “It’s not only a way to recycle, but a way
“Just from my experience working at local carpet stores to get on board with to pull out C&D waste and to help out the
convenience centers I knew that would be recycling. Despite no disposal fees— and operator,” explains Johnson. “It’s a win-
an awesome idea to have at our centers,” the environmental benefits—many stores win for everybody.”
said Johnson, referring to his time as a are continuing to send their unwanted
center operator at one of the county’s used carpet to the landfill. Johnson said carpet recycling has been
seven convenience centers where Knox so successful for the county at the two
County residents can dispose of house- “People are creatures of habit,” Chase convenience centers that are currently
hold garbage, DIY construction and acknowledges. “They’re used to taking it participating that he plans on expanding
demolition waste, and recyclables for free. to the landfill.” to three more centers within the year, as
space and supervision allows.
Johnson reached out to Knoxville Fortunately the county’s convenience
Southeastern Recycling manager Chase centers are consistently diverting private If the trend continues, someday soon
Chaffin, who was more than happy to carpet disposal. “We get material from the Tennessee could become known for turn-
partner with the county. Chase opened County we wouldn’t get otherwise,” said ing landfills of carpet into fencing, deck-
the Knoxville branch of Southeastern Chase. “It keeps us going, especially in the ing, underground water storage tanks,
Recycling in September 2013 looking slow months.” the automotive industry, and of course…
to expand on the success that his father, more carpets.
Chad Chaffin, found in Nashville.

Southeastern Recycling, LLC, was born
in 2000 after Chad bought the small
business that a couple of “pad-scrapper”
friends were looking to sell. Originally just
collecting carpet pads, Chad expanded to
include whole carpets in 2006 when he
realized there was a recycling market for
the top-layer fibers, which he could easily
get from current customers.

In that first year of collecting carpet,
Chad estimates that he pulled in 6-7
million pounds. Southeastern has since
grown from 4 to 5 carpet pad custom-
ers, to servicing 100+ carpet accounts,
including some as far away as Alabama
and Indiana. They now divert roughly 20
million pounds of carpet from landfills
each year.

Confident that they could find similar
success in Knoxville, Chase and his wife
Carly opened a second Southeastern

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