Recycling old carpet

If you are in the market for new flooring and find yourself with old carpet to dispose of, here are some ideas for reusing it and keeping it out of landfill or incinerators.

Make a scratching post for your cat

Cats need to scratch to keep their claws sharp and stretch their limbs. If they do not have an adequate number of places where they can scratch in comfort, they will soon start on your furniture and wallpaper. Carpet makes a great scratching post cover, as cats can really get their claws into it. Staple carpet offcuts – a rough, heavily-textured carpet without loop pile is best – to a post of large board and place it in one of your cat’s favourite spots.

Use it to get rid of weeds

Old carpet used to be a popular choice of weed suppressant on allotments; however, it is now banned on a lot of sites due to the potential for chemicals to leach into the soil – not ideal if you are growing food! If you are not growing edible crops, however, carpet is a great option for areas of your garden in which you want to banish weeds. Cut the carpet to size and place it face down on the ground before covering with a thick layer of mulch.

Carpet your dog’s kennel

Revamp your dog’s kennel with an offcut of carpet. Keep spare pieces cut to the right size so that you can replace the kennel’s flooring when needed. You can also use carpet to insulate the kennel walls if needed and make your dog’s kennel an altogether more pleasant place to be.

Use it to insulate your shed

If you spend a fair bit of time in your shed throughout the year, you will know it is not much fun when the temperatures dip. You can use carpet offcuts to add a layer of insulation to your shed. Use it as a floor covering and as a shed roof liner, if necessary, to keep the chill out.

Protect wooden floors from furniture

You can buy felt pads to stick to the bottom of table and chair legs to prevent them scratching your wooden floors; however, these are often not the right size and you might have to shop around. Using old carpet means you can cut your furniture pads to the perfect size and protect your floors from scratches, scrapes and dents.