How Linn County's Waste Plan Man Put Your Raggedy Old Carpet in Your Brand New Car

The owners of the landfill just north of Marion have shipped 25 tons of thrown-away carpets to a company in Iowa City, which then ships those carpets to a factory in Kansas City.

But for what diabolical scheme, you might ask? What could they possibly want with carpet that has been bled on, spilled on and has ingrained, stepped-in, Cheetos fragments?

The Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency is diverting the presumably gross carpets to Heritage Environmental Services — the company will be recycling the plastic components of the carpets in their Kansas City facility, according to the Gazette.

And even though the carpet you toss away might be gross, the plastic that’s produced could wind up in anything, even in your car, said John Donahue, the manager of Heritage Environmental Services in Iowa City.

"Some 7 billion pounds of carpeting is just being thrown away in this country every year," Donahue told the Gazette. "Our technology can capture that."