Wellman inc, a Fort Mill, S.C. company that makes fibers and resins using recycled material, has been as honored as "the Recycler of the Year" by the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE). The company was recognized at CARE's Third Annual Conference for introducing its innovations to the flooring business. .

"We are pleased that Wellman is using its considerable recycling expertise to help keep old carpet out of the landfill," said Bob Peoples, executive director of CARE in announcing the honor. "They are helping build the infrastructure necessary to achieve CARE's objectives."

"We are truly excited by this exceptional recognition," said Phil Ammons, Wellman's director of raw material, recycling division. "We started this process back in 1996 and since then we have shipped over one hundred and fifty million pounds of resin containing 25 percent post consumer carpet."

Wellman's primary manufacturing partner is Georgia Carpet Processing, owned and operated by Amir Sahebdivani in Atlanta, Georgia. Amir secures the post consumer carpet flow and does the preliminary processing for Wellman.

Honored as Person of the Year was Paul Ashman, who heads up CAREs Environmental Recovery and Consolidation Services LLC (ERCS). Ashman, is a Massachusetts businessman who was one of the founding members of CARE.

Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) is a joint industry-government effort to increase recycling and reduce the amount of waste carpet.