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Textiles and Carpet - What's in our garbage - Garbage & recycling services

Textiles and carpet are resources

36,452 tons were disposed of at the landfill in 2019

What is it?

Textiles are fabrics woven or knitted of natural or man-made materials. Carpets are heavy floor coverings woven of wool or synthetic fibers.

Why recycle textiles and carpet?

Textiles and carpets in the landfill are a wasted resource because the fibers can be re-manufactured into new products such as new carpeting or insulation. Textiles in good condition can be reused or turned into rags, which in turned can be recycled into paper. Carpet is currently more difficult to recycle than textiles, but as part of the Carpet America Recovery Effort external link , government agencies and the carpet industry have set the goal to divert 40 percent of waste carpet from landfills by 2012.

King County waste stream graph
Eighty percent of materials thrown away are resources – not waste.

What can you do?

Related information

  • What happens to my recyclables? Materials collected for recycling in King County become new products, many of them manufactured locally. This 10-minute video shows how the recycling loop works: from collection to remanufacture to new product.
  • Recycle More. It's Easy To Do. Although most King County residents say they participate in their curbside recycling program, more than half of what ends up in the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill is readily recyclable.
  • Compost More. Waste Less. Food scraps and food soiled paper break down into compost, a soil amendment that enriches soil and improves plant health.
  • King County’s Zero Waste program is a guiding principle for all waste reduction and recycling programs.
King County Solid Waste Division mission: Waste Prevention, Resource Recovery, Waste Disposal

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