Nothing is better than having a beautifully crafted handmade rug in your home. The hand-stitched and hand-knotted are like having special works of art in your home, except they are placed on the floor. And while that may sound silly to hear, make no mistake that a beautiful Persian rug or a patterned and intricate Oriental rug is just as much the centerpiece in your room as the painting on your wall. Many of these rugs are unique or one of a kind, and it’s important to make sure they are regularly cleaned and maintained by a proper area rug cleaning facility to prevent them from ending up in a landfill: a fate that is actually more common than you think.

When rugs get damaged or extremely soiled, the instinct for a lot of people is to throw them in the trash. The garbage truck that comes every week picks it up and it is brought to a facility where it might be sorted, but most likely it is included in the pile that will be placed into a landfill. That rug will sit in that landfill pile for a very long time because of how long it takes for the material to break down. This is harmful to the environment as it is left to degrade when it could be properly recycled at a proper facility or even reused or rejuvenated. 

The use of machine rugs is where the most damage is done to the environment. Machine rugs are often made with synthetic materials like nylon, polyester, and acrylics. These types of rugs were preferred because they could be mass-produced by rug manufacturers, made at a cheaper price, and then sold at cheaper prices to customers. Thanks to these three factors, machine-made rugs became more preferred by customers looking to put area rugs in their homes. 

When it comes time to clean them, instead of having them cleaned by an area rug cleaning facility, they end up being thrown out because they are cheap and can be replaced for cheap. But this creates a huge environmental issue as these rugs are not recyclable. The synthetic materials in these machine-made rugs are not biodegradable and are harmful to the environment. Instead of being disposed of properly, these machine-made rugs go through the recycling process and end up in landfills where these decomposing rugs will spew out the harmful chemicals found in the fibers, dyes, and rubber backings of these rugs.

Yes, the world of cheap machine-made rugs seems like they do the job of adding color to living space. If all your furnishings are cheap then maybe a more affordable rug will suffice to fill the space. However, when the life span of that machine-made rug is up, it’s important to recycle it properly to avoid having the rug sit in a landfill doing harm to the environment. But nothing can replace the beauty, craftsmanship, uniqueness, and life span of a handmade rug. A handmade rug is an art piece, a showpiece, or an heirloom. Most of these rugs are valuable and increase in value over time. A cheap rug looks like a cheap rug. 

A lot of the issues stem from a lack of awareness of companies and services that offer ways to renew the life of your rugs like specialized rug cleaning facilities. The biggest misconception is that you can rent a steam cleaner meant for carpet cleaning and use it on your area rugs. This can actually do damage to your area rugs because steam cleaning does not properly dust your rugs or remove the debris trapped deep into his rug fibers. 

The key to preserving the lifespan of your rugs and avoid having to throw them out is to have them cleaned regularly at a facility specializing in area rug cleaning and rug repairs. It’s recommended to clean your rugs every 1 to 2 years to prevent the build-up of household dirt and debris from damaging the fibers in your rug. A proper rug cleaning facility will not only have the equipment to wash your rugs, but also the proper equipment to thoroughly dust your rugs and air dry them.