Vinyl is the main flooring choice for education and healthcare settings and for many hospitality, commercial and public buildings. Typically, large volumes are required. This means that there is substantial waste, both from end-of-use uplifted flooring and from new installation offcuts. Traditionally, this waste has been disposed of through landfill or incineration. The Recofloor vinyl take-back scheme – funded by manufacturers Altro and Polyflor – provides contractors with an alternative circular economy approach.  

With material collected from site and used in either new flooring or products such as traffic cones, Recofloor reduces both the demand for virgin raw materials and the associated carbon emissions. As industry sustainability efforts intensify, scheme participants are clear about how the scheme can support waste management and net zero efforts.  

“We have a target to be net zero by 2040 across the full value chain,” explains Fiona Walker, Environmental Advisor at GRAHAM Construction. “Waste management is an important part of this, and take-back schemes such as Recofloor have a huge role to play. Our first involvement with Recofloor was with the construction of NHS Grampian’s new Baird Family Hospital and Anchor Centre. When the flooring contractors – Veitchi – suggested Recofloor, we bought into the idea immediately. This one project is expected to divert around 2,300m2 of Polyflor vinyl offcuts from landfill, with all the material going for reprocessing and reuse.” 

The endorsement of the value of Recofloor and other take- back schemes is shared by Kane Greenough, Supply Chain Sustainability Manager at Morgan Sindall Construction. “Our vision is to be the most sought after and sustainable business in our industry,” says Kane. “So recycling and re-use are top priorities. Recofloor fits perfectly with the other take- back schemes we use, which include The Pallet LOOP for timber and the Proplex ClosedLoop Re-manufacturing Scheme for plastic sheeting. We’re making a big push to get the word out, with a best practice document shared across the group and to sub-contractors.” 

One of these sub-contractors is Rhodar, currently acting as demolition contractor for Morgan Sindall’s Dixons Newall Green Academy project in Manchester. The project involves refurbishing one main school building while demolishing older buildings. “As demolition experts, we have always maximised re-use and recycling. We are also now on a net zero pathway,” says Senior Contracts Manager, John Duggan. “When we heard about Recofloor from Morgan Sindall, we could see immediately that the scheme made sense. Of the vinyl we will be uplifting, around 20% is recyclable. By using Recofloor, we can be sure that this material will be reprocessed for new uses, supporting our sustainability goals.” 

A further main contractor to have come on board with Recofloor is BAM Construct UK. Their recent Weldon Village Academy new-build near Corby is a great example of the value of the scheme – and also of the importance of communication through the supply chain. As BAM’s senior site manager for the project, Alex Biddle, explains: “Thanks to co-ordinated action between BAM, Altro, Recofloor and flooring contractor Hillside Flooring, we were able to collect around 1.6 tonnes of offcuts for recycling. This will save around 9 tonnes of CO2 emissions. At BAM, we have a target to reduce our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 80% by 2026 from a 2015 baseline. Take-back schemes such as Recofloor are vital in helping us reach this goal.” 

 For more information on the scheme, visit www.recofloor.org or contact Recofloor on 0161 355 7618 or at info@recofloor.org.     

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