Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK) now has support from around half of the carpet manufacturing and distribution sectors supplying the UK market through its 16 core funder members. This reflects a clear increase in engagement from the sector to act to reduce textile flooring waste and resource usage, according to the not-for-profit association.

Support from CRUK’s core funders 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 and Tarkett. They are acting voluntarily ahead of any legislation, including Cormar Carpets and Headlam who, with assistance from CRUK, have helped key customers to reduce waste and to create cost savings.

At the 2022 Harrogate Flooring Show, Adnan Zeb-Khan, CRUK Scheme Manager reported interest from raw material suppliers, including fibre and backing manufacturers, seeking advice on how to include more recycled content, and discussing the challenges of separating the component part of carpets.

“We want to have more conversations with raw materials suppliers about the supply of recycled and more sustainable materials as well as, the challenges of decommissioning carpets at the end of life, what is being done and how can we help. We also want to examine more deeply the range and volume of fibres in the UK marketplace. The raw material sector wants to do more to help their manufacturing customers,” he said.

Flooring suppliers of varying sizes showed interest in design for the circular economy and products made with recycled content. Smarter information is often needed to understand their waste streams. CRUK suggests companies do a baseline study with their waste collector to find out what is happening to their textile flooring waste.

“Gaining a detailed understanding of the process means we can provide bespoke advice on how to make improvements and potentially to make savings on cost and resources,” continued Adnan. “We

met several flooring contractors with a monthly spend of £4k to £5k on waste, and we look forward to making a start on helping these companies with next steps and including them in our membership.”

Adnan also highlighted discussions with two flooring fitting training organisations on developing educational programmes regarding the wastes they create and how they can directly influence how the waste is collected, sorted and then processed.

“Overall, it was a positive show, and it was great to meet new faces in the sector from raw material suppliers, manufacturers and flooring suppliers. We look forward to following up all of the conversations and assisting companies in revisiting their textile flooring waste streams as well as using resources in a better way through our 119-strong membership and wider network,” he added.

For more information, email: info@carpetrecyclinguk.com or visit www.carpetrecyclinguk.com