A new carpet-backing machine that allows manufacturers to produce fully-recyclable floor coverings has been unveiled by coating and laminating specialist Web Processing, a Cygnet Tex-Web company.

The compact, 20-metre Hot-Melt Carpet-Backing machine has been designed in response to growing demand for an environmentally-friendly backing solution to cut the volume of commercial and domestic carpet being sent to landfill every year.

Web Processing’s solution is said to replace latex, PVC and bitumen - which are traditionally used to back carpets but difficult to recycle - with thermoplastic polymer adhesive applied using a hot-melt method and which is said to be easily recyclable at over 90% of industrial and household recycling plants.

“Our Hot-Melt Carpet-Backing machine has been developed in close collaboration with carpet manufacturers and adhesive suppliers and is being heralded as a major step forward in the campaign to make the flooring market more ecologically-sustainable by creating products that are completely recyclable,” says Roy Conway, technical manager at Web Processing.

“We have invested over a decade of experience in carpet manufacturing to engineer a machine that surpasses previous green credentials for the industry.”

More efficient process

Web Processing’s Hot-Melt Carpet-Backing machine has been designed to make every part of the backing process more efficient. It is thought to be the first of its kind to combine coating and tuft-locking processes to fix fibres securely.

In this way, Web Processing says, production times are halved to handle up to ten metres of carpet per minute, compared with four to five metres per minute for conventional methods, with only the melt rate of the polymeric adhesive restricting production speeds.

“The machine’s compact build and 20m production line for continuous running mean it has a significantly smaller footprint than conventional machines which typically measure 100m, and uses less than half the energy to power with negligible emissions and no atmospheric pollution,” the company explains.

Laurance Bird, Director of Carpet Recycling UK, said:

“400,000 tonnes of carpet waste is buried in UK landfill every year, causing a huge and unsustainable burden that the industry urgently needs to address. Web Processing’s work to create a cost and energy-efficient alternative is great news that is being welcomed by manufacturers and environmental campaigners alike.”

Roy Conway from Cygnet Tex-Web will be presenting at Carpet Recycling UK’s 4th annual conference at the Institute of Engineering & Technology, Birmingham, on Wednesday 11th July 2012. www.carpetrecyclinguk.com