2017 was a record-breaking year for Recofloor with 563 tonnes of waste vinyl flooring collected for recycling into flooring or other products. Collections from contractors rose by 10.5% compared to last year, diverting even more vinyl flooring from landfill.
Distributors and contractors signed up to Altro and Polyflor’s national vinyl flooring recycling initiative contributed an impressive 397 tonnes (71%) to last year’s total. The majority of material collected was smooth and safety vinyl offcuts (533 tonnes).
Since 2009, the scheme’s 700-plus members throughout the UK and Ireland have collected 3,771 tonnes of waste vinyl flooring. This equates to 1,257,000 m2 of material that has been recycled with 3,016.80 tonnes of CO2 savings – an equivalent saving to driving around the equator 1,524 times in an average car.
Commenting on the 2017 results, Recofloor’s Project Officer Joe Gardner said greater marketing efforts, including the Grand Tour visiting 63 distributors last year with accompanying website blogs, had made an impact and encouraged greater participation.
One such example is Mike Doran, owner of Wigan-based MSD Flooring Ltd, who signed up to Recofloor last year after seeing the collection bins at one of his suppliers.
“I felt it was a good idea to recycle the flooring – offcuts mainly – and the scheme works well for us with efficient collections,” said Mike. “We do a lot of social housing work and collecting waste flooring also helps the fitters to keep their work sites tidy.”
Praising the ‘tremendous achievement’ from Recofloor members towards the annual collection record, Joe continued: “Their incredible efforts have seen our annual collection figures grow year-on-year. We are around 10% up on what we collected throughout 2015.”
He urged those who’ve helped to achieve the ‘impressive’ amount of flooring collected in 2017 to be rewarded for their efforts by entering the 2018 Recofloor Awards.
Joe added: “What we’re looking for are more contractors to share details of projects involving flooring supplied by Altro and Polyflor that has been collected and recycled through the scheme. In return companies can gain free publicity and an opportunity for a case study highlighting their successes.”
Recofloor’s success in engaging with all levels of the flooring chain continues to drive the initiative, which has built up strong relationships with distributors and contractors.
Recycling, versus landfilling, waste vinyl flooring can reduce collectors’ waste disposal costs by up to 70% and also benefits the environment. Recofloor also collects roll ends, LVT offcuts, loose lay and uplifted smooth vinyl flooring.
