Rising retailer interest in recycling waste carpet, says CRUK

Published by Kathy Wilkinson for Carpet Recycling UK in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Environment, Local Government

Consumer concern over end of life options for their waste carpets is prompting more retailers to offer take back and recycling services, says Carpet Recycling UK - the industry’s association for recycling and reusing carpet.

Speaking after the 2012 Buying Groups’ National Flooring Show in May, CRUK Co-ordinator Jane Gardner described the response from retailers as ‘very positive’  with several reporting increased interest in recycling and end of life options from householders.

“With more than 50 enquiries over the two days, we were encouraged by this level of interest and the retailers we spoke to at our stand were keen to enhance their offering to the consumer by providing a take back service and recycling carpets. These forward thinking retailers are the entrepreneurs of the retail world,” she said.

“The event was a good opportunity to speak to carpet retailers about the end of life options for carpet waste and the work being undertaken by CRUK core funders who are taking responsibility for the product they place on the market at the end of its life.”

According to Jane, many retailers had reported increasing questions from customers about the sustainability of carpets and recycling of old ones, such as ‘we recycle all our other household waste including bottles, can and papers as a matter of course, this should be extended to carpets as well’.

With more than 30 specialist recyclers in the UK processing carpet waste for new uses, opportunities for clean installation waste take back schemes are expanding and offer many advantages for retailers, such as improved customer service and reduced waste collections.

While recycling outlets for post-installation waste offcuts are developing and increasing, these can still not be accessed by retailers in all areas. However, in Yorkshire and the North West – the traditional base of the fibre reprocessing industry – more opportunities are opening up.

“Retailers in those areas in particular should contact CRUK to find out how they can recycle their installation off cuts into high value end products such as underlay and mattress pads,” added Jane.

“As consumers generally want to see their waste carpet put to a better use, this is an added positive selling point and one which will differentiate your business from competitors.”

Working across the supply chain, CRUK is diverting more of the UK’s annual 400,000 tonnes of carpet waste from landfill. Its target is 25% diversion from landfill by 2015; the rate increased from 10% in 2010 to 16.5% in 2011. For more information, contact 0161 440 8325 or email marie@carpetrecyclinguk.com.