Carpet
Recycling UK held its first annual conference in June, titled ‘Gathering
Momentum’. The audience of 100 people heard from a cross-section of speakers from
around the world, comparing experiences, technologies and business models for
recycling carpets.
Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) supported this
conference with its chairman Frank Hurd giving the keynote address. CARE has
experience over seven years recyling 500,000 tonnes of carpets. The audience
appreciated their willingness to share their knowledge and the guidance from
Hurd on the need for “outlets, outlets, outlets”.
Technology expert Ron Simonetti of Modular Carpet Recycling
(MCR) from the US revealed a new process combining mechanical and chemical
recycling to achieve high purity on synthetic fibre recovery. Sergio Dell’Orco
of PCC Processing Technologies presented the mechanical process operating in
the US by Interface and Universal Fibres for recovery of nylon fibres pure
enough to be re-used in new yarns – closed loop recovery which is the
ultimate goal. All of the conference papers can be accessed at
www.carpetrecyclinguk.com.
In the UK carpet recycling, re-use and energy recovery has
grown from an estimated 2,000 tonnes in 2007 to 8,000 tonnes last year. During
2009 some of the end-uses such as equestrian surfaces have been affected by the
economic conditions but growth in energy recovery is offsetting declines in
other areas. More importantly new end-uses are being developed thanks to the
efforts of Carpet Recycling UK members, and good progress has been made,
particularly with wool carpets.
Post Industrial wool carpet wastes are now being diverted
from landfill and reused in products such as insulation felts and carpet
underlay felts. This has provided a significant cost saving for members and the
benefits of a valuable material resource being given a new life. Post consumer
wool carpets are also finding use in agricultural applications thanks to the
benefits of slow release nitrogen and essential minerals from the wool fibres.
Research work carried out in New Zealand and brought to the
attention of Carpet Recycling UK by member Wool Partners International has been
disseminated to agricultural specialists. James Hewetson-Brown of Coronet Turf
realised the potential for the use of carpet shred and contacted Carpet
Recycling UK on product supply. Greenback in Wiltshire was recommended as the
local supplier to meet their needs. Coronet now produces and markets this
soil-less easy lay turf for landscaping, green roofs and bank stabilisation for
road verges and steep slopes.
Wool shred was also evaluated in wildflower growth in field
trials by Landlife. As a result of this it has been used at a land restoration
site in Cumbria. This demonstration shows on a commercial scale how the
incorporation of wool carpet shred enhances the redevelopment using grass and
wildflower seeding for habitat restoration.
Lobbying of the Environment Agency (EA) to achieve low risk
positioning for wool
cropper dust in horticultural growing media, as well as the
use of intact wool carpets as mulch mats, has been successful. 15,000 wool
mulch mats are now in use primarily for trees and shrubs. Use of cropper dust
for turf and green roofs has also been approved. Research work is underway to
provide data for a much broader application to the EA for wool carpet shred
usage.
Domestic carpets in UK contain a high share of
polypropylene, and commercial carpets and tiles have a high share of nylon to
meet the rigorous footfall levels. These synthetic fibres have a value if they
can be extracted in a pure enough form for plastic end uses. Development
efforts are underway by Carpet Recycling UK with specialists in mixed plastics
to determine optimum technologies for recovery of these polymers.
Carpet tiles in UK are primarily backed by bitumen and their
reuse as a bitumen replacement in high recycled content roadstone has been
patented by Econpro. As bitumen is not an easy product to recycle due to its
low melting point, recent evaluations to separate out the nylon fibres have been
made. Various options on technology are emerging so that both nylon and bitumen
content can be captured at reasonable cost and purity.
Carpet Recycling UK membership has increased to 33 including
eight specialist carpet recyclers across the UK and Ireland. This growth is
encouraging but many more members are needed in order to speed the pace of
development in researching and commercialising new outlets for carpets. Carpet
manufacturers provide the backbone of membership and a voluntary producer
responsibility network is being created for the industry. We would now like to
see all carpet manufacturers with significant UK sales supporting the Founder
Members by joining us – please e-mail kate@carpetrecyclinguk.com or call
Kate Chappell 07787 160169 for details on joining.
