Waste carpet as backing filler for floor coverings

Abstract

The amount of waste carpeting that is landfilled or otherwise disposed of is significantly reduced, as is the need for the mining mineral fillers, by utilizing specially processed waste carpeting as a filler in the production of new hot melt carpet backcoating, roofing materials, or other similar products. Waste carpeting (post consumer and/or waste from new carpet manufacture) is collected and size reduced, typically in a first coarse size reduction, and then after densification to a finer size reduction. The size reduced waste carpeting is added as filler to at least one other material, such as polymers in standard latex, EVA, or PVC carpet backcoatings, to provide a hot melt composite used in the manufacture of a useful product (like carpet backcoating), and then the composite material is used to make the useful product (such as carpet backcoating, which is used as a primary or secondary backcoating in the manufacture of new carpeting). The waste carpeting may provide between about 40 100% of the filler of carpet backcoating, with any remainder made up by conventional fillers, such as calcium carbonate.

1 - 17 . (Canceled)  
     
     
         18 . Carpeting having a face, primary backing, primary backcoating, and at least one secondary backcoating; and wherein at least one of said primary and secondary backcoatings comprises a polymer and filler, and wherein at least about 40% of said filler is size-reduced waste carpeting, at least one of said primary backcoating or secondary backcoating including a hot melt compound applied as a molten mixture of polymers and fillers and cooled to form said one backcoating.  
     
     
         19 . Carpeting as recited in  claim 18  wherein at least one of said backcoatings comprises a molten mixture of about 5-18% EVA copolymer, about 32-45% resin, about 20-50% size-reduced waste carpeting filler, and about 0-30% calcium carbonate filler.  
     
     
         20 . Carpeting as recited in  claim 18  wherein said size-reduced waste carpeting comprises size-reduced post-consumer waste carpeting, and wherein said filler has a particle size and range of about 200-325 mesh, nominally.  
     
     
         21 . Carpeting as recited in  claim 18  wherein said secondary backcoating includes the hot melt compound of polymers and fillers together with a fabric material laminated therewith and to the primary backing.  
     
     
         22 . Carpeting as recited in  claim 18  wherein the size-reduced waste carpeting includes latex backed waste carpeting.  
     
     
         23 . Carpeting as recited in  claim 22  including a fabric material laminated with the one backcoating.  
     
     
         24 . Carpeting as recited in  claim 18  wherein the size-reduced waste carpeting includes post-consumer waste carpeting.  
     
     
         25 . Carpeting as recited in  claim 18  wherein the size-reduced waste carpeting includes post-industrial waste carpeting.  
     
     
         26 . Carpeting as recited in  claim 18  wherein the said secondary backcoating includes the reduced latex backed waste carpeting, and a fabric material laminated with the secondary backcoating containing the size-reduced latex waste carpeting.