CARPET RECYCLING
Gavin MacDonald Flooring has gone green
Today it is more essential than ever that we look after our planet, that is why Gavin MacDonald Flooring have invested heavily in recycling such as installing a carpet crushing machine to recycle all of cuts carpet and underlay to stop them going to landfill. Low wattage energy efficient lighting and ad blue vehicles so we as a company and team are reducing our carbon footprint.
All packaging and materials are removed from the job and recycled so you can enjoy your new flooring straight away!
400,000 tonnes of carpet waste arise in the UK every year. Back in 2008, 98% of this waste was going into landfill – a huge environmental concern.
Carpet Recycling UK has a vision of creating greater opportunities to divert carpet waste from landfill and recover raw materials.
These opportunities include waste prevention, designing for recycling, take-back schemes, and greater re-use and recycling of carpet.
What can carpet be recycled into?
Recycling wool rich carpet
Underlay and insulation
Fibres from wool rich carpets have excellent insulating properties making them perfect for use in underlay and both sound and heat insulation products. The waste carpet fibres are pulled and blended with other fibres to create suitable materials. The process is being used both for fitting offcuts and for offcuts produced during manufacture – carpet manufacturers can now create a closed loop system and stop sending waste to landfill.
Compost and growing media
Due to the high nitrogen content, the fibres from wool-rich carpet are ideal as a peat replacement and soil enhancer for contained growing media (for example, in grow mats for herbs, green roofs and compost.)
Recycling synthetic carpets
Equestrian surfaces
Mixed synthetic carpet is shredded and mixed with sand, to form a surface for equestrian use.
Nylon recovery
Nylon from carpets can be extruded and injection moulded into engineering plastics such as washing machine parts or wheel trims.
Polypropylene recovery
Carpets with polypropylene face fibre and polypropylene backing can be shredded, granulated and extruded into pellets.
Carpet tile re-use
Carpet tiles with a durable nylon pile can often be re-furbished and re-used. There are a growing number of carpet tile re-use and re-sale schemes, often run by community organisations which give training placements to marginalised people and provide low-cost flooring to households and charities.
Carpet tile recycling
Where carpet tiles aren’t suitable for re-use, they can be recycled by separating the nylon fibres from the bitumen backing. The fibres are then recycled into yarn for new carpet, and the bitumen into applications such as roofing and road surfaces.
Energy from waste
There will always be some carpet waste that can’t be recycled, either because it is too difficult to separate out the different materials or because the carpet is too contaminated by what’s been spilt on it during its lifetime. As carpet has a high calorific value, however, this unrecyclable carpet waste can be put to use to produce energy from waste (EFW) – for example, as a fuel replacement for cement kilns.
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