Recycled Carpet at UCSB

1
Recycled Carpet at UCSB

• Kent Centers
• Evon Chambers
• Mike Lisenbee
• Amanda Sweet
• Whitney Wilkinson

2
Background

• Our project is continuing from where a past study
  left off
• Carpet purchasing contracts are currently in
  place with Mohawk and Shaw. Until recently the
  head of facilities maintenance was unaware of
  these contracts and was purchasing more expensive
  commercial carpet from another supplier
• - contracts with Shaw and Mohawk included
  diversion of all used carpet from the landfill
• This agreement is up on June 30, 2006
• Carpet purchasing is run by a specific carpet
  commodity team that makes decisions for all UC
  schools
• Commodity team represents a concentrated interest
  and has lower transaction costs

3
Background

• Carpet Recycling Program Ensuring Total
  Sustainability aka UC-CaRPETS
• A UC system wide program that supports carpet
  recycling, reclamation and environmental
  sustainability
• This program includes
• An agreement with Mohawk and Shaw that includes a
  10 step process for post-consumer product
  recycling
• Both companies agree to handle the entire
  process of collection, transportation,
  consolidation, recycling, and distribution of
  post-consumer carpet material at no additional
  charge.

4
Objectives

• We want to present guidelines for the carpet
  commodity team to follow when accepting bids from
  carpet companies in the future
• Our fixes would be
• Structural- changing purchasing policy
• Technical- changing the type of carpet used and
  how it is disposed of
• Upstream - using carpet made from natural and
  recycled materials, carpet tiles divert waste
  from landfills by requiring less materials
  overall
• Downstream - Recycling old carpet

5
Stakeholders

• UC Carpet Commodity Team
• Matt Saint-Claire, UCOP Sustainability
  Coordinator
• Stuart Davis, manager of procurement for all UCs
• Perrin Pellegrin
• Shaw, Mohawk, Interface
• University Facilities Management
• Students
• Local landfills and surrounding communities

6
Stakeholders

• Important in episodic frame - requires changing
  the ideas and behaviors of a particular person,
  such as any/all of our stakeholders
• Important in the design of interventions, because
  need to know which actors make the most
  difference and what influences are important in
  changing behavior

7
Incentives

• UCSB - Environmental Image
• First ES program birth of Environmental Movement
• Should be leader in sustainable purchasing
• Will help attract progressive students/faculty
  (tradition)
• Monetary
• Savings during time of budget cuts
• LEED Standards
• Campus-wide effort

8
Incentives

• Recycled carpet will help the UC system work
  towards its goal of total environmental
  sustainability, solid waste reduction,
  environmentally-conscious use of our natural
  resources, energy conservation, air-quality
  protection, landfill prevention and promoting
  responsible stewardship of our planet for future
  generations.
• UC-CaRPETS

9
Multiple Intervention Strategies

• Combining information with incentives
• Informing key decision makers and illuminating
  otherwise unseen incentives

10
Roadblocks

• Internal barriers
• Lack of information reflected in the fact that
  UCSB was not purchasing sustainable carpet from
  Shaw or Mohawk because they did not know about
  the contract
• External barriers
• Budget, existing purchasing contracts
• There is a gap between UCSBs attitude and
  behavior we want to be sustainable yet the
  current way carpet is purchased is not
• Due to the specific nature of our problem, broad,
  resourced-based class concepts such as The
  Tragedy of the Commons and community management
  were not directly applicable

11
Roadblocks

• Having to change the objective of our project
  after we found that recycled-sustainable carpet
  procurement for the UC system was already set in
  motion
• Difficulties in contacting involved people and
  companies
• Too many people involved (to the point of
  confusion)
• Some information (such as the actual contracts
  between the UC system and the carpet companies)
  was inaccessible to students.

12
Preliminary Guidelines

• Buy refurbished carpet if possible (100
  post-consumer)
• Tiles for high-traffic areas
• Take-back program (no incineration)
• Natural/Recyclable materials
• Recycled Content
• Face-fiber gt50
• Backing 100

13
Currently

• Framing ourselves as an independent student
  coalition in favor of sustainable carpet
  purchasing, we are in close communication with
  the head of the commodity team to whom we have
  submitted our recommendations