Flooring You can visit CRUK at
next month’s Ecobuild at the excel in London, on stand S472 or on stand 22C41 at the Facilities
Show in May at the NEC in Birmingham.
bathroom showroom in Nottingham. Carpet tiles unsuitable for resale were donated to charities or shipped abroad for reuse, with about 5% used for waste-derived fuel.
Later in 2012, a further 30,000m² of carpet tiles were removed from Canary Wharf in London, again in partnership with Loughton Contracts. Following the same grading process, some of the recovered tiles found a second life in St Saviour’s Church in Nottingham, when it was refurbished for improved use by the local community. Savings made by using the recovered high performance Invista Antron® recycled carpet tiles, which still had many years of life left, freed up funds to complete other projects within the building, further extending the benefits of carpet tile recovery.
Last year also saw record levels of carpet production offcuts diverted from landfill by UK-based members of Carpet Recycling UK. These manufacturers prevented 6,049 tonnes of offcuts from the production process going into the ground – representing a diversion rate of 99% in 2012. Recycling was by far the majority outlet at 5,241 tonnes, with only 808 tonnes used for energy recovery. These achievements are testament to sustained efforts across the entire supply chain in capturing rising waste tonnages, plus a commitment to developing new outlets and markets for all types of carpet waste.
A positive story New recycling opportunities are continuing to emerge as growing awareness is matched by practical endeavour, so it’s a positive story.
Recycling capacity has increased at specialist facilities able to handle carpets via reuse, recycling and energy recovery. Elsewhere, it was encouraging to see new machinery investment along with growth in the use of fibres from carpets for equestrian surfaces and felts, such as underlay. While an estimated 78.6% of end-of-life carpet still ends up in landfill, our goals for 2013 will continue to drive higher carpet recycling rates through a number of initiatives, including local authority encouragement on segregation.
A key part of CRUK’s work is keeping abreast of advances in new recycling technologies and techniques that can be applied to waste carpet. In turn, this demands research into the best ways of collecting it. During 2012, as demand for clean, identified carpet offcuts increased, pilot trials were introduced to capture the estimated 12,000 to 15,000 tonnes per annum being primarily landfilled from carpet fitting. These pilots will evaluate the logistical challenges of collecting fitting offcuts from the domestic and commercial sectors through retailers, flooring contractors and distributors. One example is Dewsbury-based, DC Waste Management, which has launched a carpet fitting waste collection scheme for local carpet and flooring retailers in Yorkshire. Waste offcuts are sent to local recyclers, such as Pennine Blending in Huddersfield, where they are made into new products.
While carpet recycling is still very much in its infancy, great strides have been made since Carpet Recycling UK was formed in 2008 to tackle the 400,000 tonnes of waste carpet arising annually in the UK. As the collection and recycling infrastructure continues to develop and expand, so the opportunities widen for more organisations and sectors, such as FM, to grow carpet recycling momentum.
www.carpetrecyclinguk.com
CRUK goals for 2013: • 23.5% landfill diversion.
• Increasing reuse, recycling and energy recovery outlets, thus improving choice, collection and transport logistics across the UK.
• Recruiting manufacturers, distributors, retail and flooring contractor members to help support collection infrastructure growth.
• Increase awareness of carpet recycling opportunities and recycler initiatives across the value chain, including waste management and local authority decision-makers.
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