An eco-friendly option for waste vinyl was essential for this new-build school extension, where sustainability considerations were a top priority. 

Keen to minimise waste and carbon during construction and beyond, main contractor Ashe Construction asked Altro for sustainable flooring ideas for the build. This led both to a change in product specification and to implementing post-installation waste collections through Recofloor, Altro and Polyflor’s commercial vinyl take-back recycling service. In total, 0.85 tonnes of vinyl offcuts were collected for recycling. 

Project and flooring 

The new two-storey extension at Bedford Academy was a £12m project for Bedford Borough Council in 2025. This extra capacity has made the school one of the largest secondary schools in the borough.  

The flooring contractor wasEquinox Flooring, fitting 1280m2 adhesive-free Altro Cantata in the 16 classrooms plus 280m2 Altro Aquarius in 4 changing rooms. 

The decision to use Recofloor  

Both Ashe and Bedford Borough Council have ambitious zero carbon targets, with every detail of a project counting. When Altro recommended Recofloor – the – to Ashe, the team recognised immediately that deployment made perfect sense.  

“The combination of Recofloor with Altro’s Cantata adhesive-free vinyl is a great solution,” says Ashe project manager, Danny Roberts. “The product itself is lower carbon and designed to be recyclable, maximising resource recovery. And because it’s easy to lift, recycling the vinyl through Recofloor will be simple and straightforward when the time comes for replacement.” 

Establishing Recofloor on site 

For this project, Recofloor bins were deployed on site. Ashe discussed bin location with Equinox, concluding that the best spot would be with the site skips, just outside the main building. This was easy for fitters to access. It also meant that bin delivery and collection would be straightforward.  

Once the project started, fitters were able to dispose of the growing amount of offcut waste as they went along – all without filling up site skips.  

Bin collections and deliveries 

The first bin was requested by Altro, with Recofloor moving delivery forward efficiently when the start date for flooring work was confirmed as earlier than expected  

Bin collection and replacement was then requested by Equinox’s Tim Ellis, with a further collection for the second and final bin.  

“Everything happened on time,” says Tim. “Communication was good, and responses were double quick.” 

An important feature of the Recofloor scheme is that bins are collected and delivered mainly by vehicles already making flooring delivery runs. This keeps the carbon footprint of collections low. 

Outcome 

Equinox collected a total of 0.85 tonnes of offcuts. Recycling this quantity gives an estimated carbon saving of 1 tonne compared to manufacturing new materials.  

Not yet using Recofloor? 

Recofloor is the UK’s leading commercial vinyl collection and recycling service. It’s eco-friendly and cost-effective, with material collected being recycled for use in new products, including flooring. To start deploying Recofloor on your project site, get in touch.  

Comment 

“This project shows how Recofloor helps contractors and end customers meet net zero and waste reduction targets. Offcut material adds up quickly, so it was great to see the teams working together to find and implement a greener solution. By deploying Recofloor, they have kept waste out of landfill and given materials new life.” 

Recofloor Scheme Manager Carla Eslava 

More details about Altro’s sustainability aspects of the build, the recycling of waste and fitting of the adhesive free floors can be found here: Altro visit Ashe Construction site at Bedford Academy | Altro UK