Abstract
On average a typical carpet manufacturing company in the UK produces between 15 to 20 tonnes of waste per week. This amounts to nearly \textsterling70 million of would be extra income per year. Post consumer carpet is difficult to quantify but the waste is likely to increase inline with other consumable practises. To alleviate the problem, a number of pioneering research initiatives have resulted in practical and potential solutions. However, by and large they are, as yet, not economically viable and could take a long time before they become universally acceptable. This work discusses some new initiatives which attempts to reduce costs by using suitably selected carpet wastes to reinforce concrete structures with potential benefits to both the concrete and carpet manufactures. Preliminary experimental results show improved fracture characteristics and effective containment of concrete segments after impact. Possible benefits of such systems other than dealing with carpet waste and concrete reinforcements will be discussed.