Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK) is seeking more engagement from the construction, facilities management and flooring sectors in order to further reduce textile flooring waste such as commercial broadloom carpet, carpet tiles and underlay.

The not-for-profit association reports that working with 80% of the UK’s carpet and textile flooring manufacturers and distributors puts it in a strong position to represent the sector when it comes to discussions on favourable government policy outcomes.

Support from CRUK’s 17 core members comes from Balsan, Betap, Brintons Carpets, Condor Group, Cormar Carpets, ege Carpets, Furlong Flooring, Gradus, Headlam Group, IVC Commercial, Likewise Floors, Milliken, Modulyss, Rawson Carpet Solutions, Shaw, Tarkett and Victoria Group. They are taking voluntary producer responsibility for the products they place on the market and striving to reduce waste in production as well as for their customers, helping to create cost savings.

Representation

“In our 15th year, an 80% increase in industry support adds weight to our representation of the sector, recognising the achievements of our members and wider network,” said CRUK manager Adnan Zeb-Khan. “Moving forward, companies will need to demonstrate reductions in the use of new resources, design products with recycling in mind, include methods of identification of material make up and consider reverse logistics for take-back and recycling outcomes. Our members are making great strides with many developing products with recycling in mind, from single polymer ranges to those made with recycled content.”

For the construction sector, developers, and facilities companies interested in sustainable solutions for flooring waste, CRUK offers an extensive network of specialists.

“New homes flooring contractors, for example, are already segregating carpet and textile flooring waste for reuse and recycling,” said Zeb-Khan. “They recognise the savings in resources and costs that they have achieved and the benefit of their connection with us when tendering for new work.”

David Heafey is finance director for CRUK member Saint Flooring, which implemented waste material recycling throughout the company’s nationwide sites in 2019. He says that membership of CRUK is helping it to achieve annual savings of up to £170,000 a year on disposal costs by reusing and recycling waste materials, including carpets. 

“Carpet Recycling UK membership helped us to find partners to recycle the carpet,” he said. “Without being a member, I do not think we would have had this success.”

Circularity

 “Our ultimate aim is to move carpet and textile flooring up the waste hierarchy and create circularity to maximise the use of these resources,” Zeb-Khan said. “Obviously, preventing this material becoming a waste by reusing flooring in new settings is the best outcome for unwanted and surplus material. This helps to provide affordable flooring for social housing tenants and low-cost flooring for property developers. That’s why we’re inviting companies to discuss their projects with us.”

Key to CRUK’s work is collecting accurate data on the volume of carpet and textile flooring placed on the market together with tonnages for waste material which is being diverted from landfill – it is estimated that of the 470,000 tons arising in 2020, 70% was diverted from landfill. The latest figures due back from the 2021 tonnage survey will be presented at CRUK’s annual conference in Solihull, UK, on June 21-22.

“Given the heightened interest in legislation issues and developments and challenges surrounding the treatment of textile flooring related wastes, we’re expecting high demand for our conference,” said Zeb-Khan. “In just 15 years, we have come a long way in developing solutions for carpet and textile waste that preserve valuable resources and reduce costs for the supply chain.

“We want to reach more companies who would like to find sustainable solutions for their waste carpet and textile flooring material that help to reduce the impact this waste stream has on the environment. Thanks to our rapidly growing network, we can help you.”

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com