Carpet and Mattress Recycling Seminar

LARAC Conference October 2013

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• Bulky waste – the challenge

• Carpet Recycling UK:

– Who we are

– Outlets

– Achievements

– Case Studies

• Mattress recycling overview

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

furniture

42%

textiles

19%

weee

19%

fixtures & fittings

10%

garden &outdoor

4%

mixed

4%

non bulky

2%

Carpet Recycling UK

Jane Gardner

LARAC Conference October 2013

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• Not-for-profit membership association

• 81 Members across the supply chain

• 13 Core funders fulfilling voluntary producer responsibility

Raw material

suppliers

Manufacturers

Retailers/

Distributors

Flooring contractors

Recyclers

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com ~ 40% UK market for textile floor covering

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

Develop end markets

Create connections

Lobby

Provide technical support

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• 400,000 tonnes per

annum carpet waste

arising

• 15% residual waste in

Local Authority Civic

Amenity Sites

• Carpet composite

material, difficult to

recycle

Target: 25% landfill diversion by 2015!

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

Tile reuse Tile recycling

Nylon fibre reprocessing/Aquafil

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

Plastic construction products Hoarding boards

Underlay/Mattress pads

Fibre based equestrian surfaces EfW

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• 32 outlets:

o 7 reuse companies

o 25 recyclers &fuel

flock specialist

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

2% 3%

5%

10%

16.5%

21.4%

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

EfW

58%

Equestrian

34%

Plastic

reprocessing

4%

Fibre

reprocessing

2%

Tile reuse

1%

Others

1%

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

Post Industrial virtually all recycled

– CRUK manufacturers zero waste to

landfill

Post Installation- CRUK trials

with take back from retailers

Post consumer –

more challenging – sorting and

cleaning

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• 27 Waste Disposal Authorities across

143 HWRCs using dedicated bins for carpet waste

• 20% of Waste Disposal Authorities

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• Redfield Road HWRC

• Working with Wastecycle Nottingham

• 200 tonnes diverted 2012

• = 12 football pitches

• Segregating carpet waste led to 4% diversion rate increase

• 94% total site diversion

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• Segregate carpets/rugs at CA sites

• Keep carpet dry where possible

• EFW outlets can accept underlay and carpet

tiles as well

• No contamination with other flooring

• Clean fitting offcuts potential value

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• Landfill diversion increased from 2% to 21.4%

• CRUK and its members capturing higher

value from carpet waste

• Segregating carpets leads to significant

increase in overall diversion rate at HWRCs

• CRUK can help to find outlets

Mattresses

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• 170,000 tonnes of mattresses a year

• 25,000 tonnes (15%) are recycled or

recovered

• = 1.9million mattresses

• Key components:

• Steel

• Polyurethane foam

• Textile fibres

• Steel scrap value over £7 million

• Recycling of the textile component

limited and low value

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

• Collection, storage and recycling

• Manual recycling of individual mattresses time consuming

• End markets of mixed textiles limited

• Contamination limits end markets

• Mattresses must be sheltered and dry

www.carpetrecyclinguk.com

subcontracted to

subcontracted to

Source: Zero Waste Scotland, 2012 , Mattress Recycling - Scottish Infrastructure Business Case.