Abstract: Carpet backing is prepared from carpet scrap by first comminuting the carpet scrap into fragments and then melting and fusing the carpet scrap fragments together to render molten fragments. The resulting molten fragments containing synthetic resins are then formed into agglomerates. The pellets are then ground into a fine powder. A slurry may be prepared from the ground powder and a carrier. The ground powder may, alternatively, be mixed with a polyurethane reactive mixture, aqueous polymer containing emulsion or a thermoplastic composition such as bitumen, polypropylene or polyethylene. The resulting polymeric coating is coated onto a substrate. The coated substrate is then hardened.