GREEN FLOORING THE RISE AND FALL
According to Carpet Recycling UK, retailers and contractors alike are rising to the carpet reuse and recycling challenge. As part of this month’s focus on Green Flooring, CRUK Director, Laurance Bird, highlights some of their greatest success stories to date.
It’s clear that the sustainability message is spreading throughout the flooring sector. This is great news, both for the industry and for the environment. Greater participation in carpet take-back schemes means more unwanted carpet can be reused or recycled, rather than (expensively!) landfilled.
As we all know by now, responsible disposal of carpet can save money for retailers and contractors, while also helping them to demonstrate their green credentials and differentiate their businesses. It’s an additional service that is also appreciated by consumers, who are increasingly concerned about what happens to their waste carpet, and want to see it put to good use where possible.
DESIGNER CONTRACTS
CRUK member Designer Contracts, who boast 12 regional depots, optimised its reverse logistics following successful pilot trials to set up a carpet installation offcuts take-back and recycling scheme. Fibres are extracted and used in new underlay products, keeping valuable material in the carpet loop.
Offcuts are segregated and kept dry at the depots before being sent for recycling. All packaging materials, as well as carpet offcuts, are baled at the central warehouse in Corby and sent for recycling as part of the company’s sustainability initiatives.
What did they say?
“We are very grateful to Abingdon Flooring and Cormar Carpets for introducing us to Carpet Recycling UK and their specialist recycling members to produce this result.” Peter Kelsey, Designer Contracts.
This encouraging upward trend for greater participation in the take-back schemes is reflected in our recent figures. Overall, enquiry levels from a wide spectrum of local authorities, recyclers, retailers and flooring contractors have increased by 36%, to 376 in 2013, compared to 2012. With similar levels of interest reported for the first three months of 2014, the outlook is very positive.
Take-back schemes have grown in size and scope since CRUK’s formation
in 2008. These schemes support a number of new entrepreneurial businesses processing off-cuts into useful new products, while carpet tile re-use projects benefit many local communities and charity organisations in the third sector.
Our members have introduced some inspirational, innovative and practical solutions, as demonstrated in the examples below…
What did they say? OXBRIDGE FLOORING
Faced with increasing skip disposal costs for off-cuts and concerned with the environmental impact of landfilling valuable resources, Oxbridge Flooring, another CRUK member, devised a similar reverse logistics and baling solution for carpet offcuts, with advice from CRUK and CRUK core funder member Abingdon Flooring.
St Albans-based Kenburn Waste Management, a CRUK member, supplied a press force Bramidan X 30 baler. This space-saving baler slots neatly into Oxbridge’s warehouse racking and does not encroach on storage space.
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“Our dedication to recycling and material recovery enhances our green credentials and impresses our construction industry customers. Our baler investment should pay back within six to 12 months.” Frank Harwood, Oxbridge Flooring.
Carpet off-cuts are collected and sorted by the fitters into ‘wool blend’ or ‘polypropylene’. Material is stored dry in designated stillages at Oxbridge’s premises and collected by Abingdon Flooring when new flooring is delivered. Wool fibres recycled into new carpet underlay completes the material reuse circle.
www.tomorrowsflooring.com
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