Almost 6,000 tonnes of carpet waste was diverted from landfill by seven UK-based manufacturing members of Carpet Recycling UK during 2011 – representing a diversion rate of 85% and a 50% increase on 2010. These manufacturers prevented 5,983 tonnes of waste carpet offcuts going into landfill – with a record-breaking amount of 4,948 tonnes being recycled to recover valuable fibres. The balance of 1,035 tonnes was used for energy recovery; the high calorific value embedded in carpets makes offcuts ideal for energy generation.

“It’s a tremendous leap forward and a great achievement for the group,” said Laurance Bird, Director of CRUK, an association of companies with 12 core funders that actively support the development of carpet recycling.

“Several of these companies will achieve zero waste to landfill by the end of this year and all of them will reach that goal during 2012 with the infrastructure investments they have in place.”

Managed by Axion Consulting, CRUK was set up by industry leaders to develop viable solutions to the nearly half a million tonnes of carpet waste landfilled in the UK each year. CRUK targets include 25% landfill diversion by 2015.

Bird observed that UK landfill sites, with only seven years average capacity left, will feel the benefit of this diversion, saying: “Alternative sustainable developments in the reuse of this bulky waste now mean much less of it has to be disposed of in the ground. Recovery of fibres such as wool, polypropylene and nylon are creating new opportunities for their reuse in a wide range of end uses from equestrian surfaces to textile felts and plastics.

“Continued research by Carpet Recycling UK on behalf of its members is expanding outlets for fibre recovery and we will see several new products launching in 2012 to take advantage of new recycling technologies,” added Bird.

The seven manufacturers are Abingdon Flooring, Brintons, Cormar Carpets, Forbo, Miliken, Brockway and Penthouse Carpets. Mike Collins, Technical Manager at Abingdon Flooring said: “We achieved zero waste to landfill several years ago with yarn from offcuts going into new furniture and bedding products. As a valued income stream for us, it not only helps reduce our disposal costs but is also a sustainable reuse of materials.”

Robert Barker, Finance Director at Cormar Carpets commented: “Since being a member of CRUK we have focussed on carpet waste streams from our manufacturing processes. What we originally classified as waste can now be considered a valued raw material for other products and processes. As the carpet waste market develops with the active work of CRUK, we expect to see more value and our customers will be able to realise similar benefits in their businesses too.”