Absolute Flooring SW Ltd is an independent flooring contractor that works closely with their local participating Recofloor flooring distributor, Fitwell Flooring. Consistently committed to the scheme and proud of their achievements, the company won the Drop-off Site User of the Year award for two years running, in 2021 and 2022.
Here, Ben Clarkson, Surveyor, talks about what Recofloor means for their business.
1: Why did you join the scheme?
It was just a really good opportunity for us to work with our local supplier, Fitwell Flooring, to dispose of any suitable waste appropriately that would benefit the environment, rather than filling up two skips a week and sending it to landfill. It was a very simple decision made easier by the fact that we had someone local to work with alongside Recofloor.
2: What type of projects have you used Recofloor for?
We have used Recofloor on many different types of projects such as social housing, schools, offices and care homes. Using Recofloor on vinyl flooring projects is really easy and the right thing to do to recover all the waste.
3: How does Recofloor save you money?
Filling up a general waste skip or two every week is extremely expensive so cutting down by recycling waste vinyl flooring through Recofloor definitely saves us at least £1,000 each year.
4: How do you find the support you get from Recofloor, and from your distributor?
Recofloor support is great, everything is online which makes it very easy. Their customer service is brilliant too. With Fitwell, they are extremely accommodating in terms of making sure there is space for us to send a van down to unload in fairly large quantities so all three of us are working together. It’s a pretty seamless operation.
5: How do you make the drop off process easy and efficient?
We’ve got a purpose-built area for the materials that are going to be recycled. We store up to at least one vanload and then try to do it in as few trips as possible. Fewer big trips mean less van use and also minimises the carbon footprint.
6: Were there any particular challenges you experienced when you first started as a drop off user – if so, how did you overcome them?
Not at all. Perhaps the biggest challenge was creating that dedicated space to store materials ready for recycling, but we overcame that in a matter of days. We didn’t want to be making the trip every day to drop off waste materials because you’re defeating the objective in terms of fuel use and time.
7: How have your team taken to using Recofloor?
It’s not a burden for them in any way at all because they simply bring back the waste materials they normally would. Rather than unloading into the skip, they simply unload into the recycling area in one of our units. It’s all extremely straightforward.
8: Going forward, what are your future plans for working with Recofloor?
Just do more! To grow with Recofloor, the more we can do, the better it is for everyone and the environment.
9: What would you say to other companies considering joining Recofloor?
The sooner you can do it, the better. It’s a very simple process and there really is nothing difficult about it. The opportunities from a company point of view in terms of advertising, are great. There’s nothing difficult about working with Recofloor, everything is straightforward and made simple by them.
10: How does winning an award feel?
It was a strange feeling initially as we don’t normally enter awards. But you do find yourself taking a sense of pride in it and it enthuses the team. It is something we strive for now to keep up the work that we are doing.
11: Can you tell me how you promote Recofloor and how this helps your business?
We promote the scheme a lot on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. We also have a Recofloor page on our website and display our trophy and certificate in the showroom; it shows customers that we take the environment seriously.
When we’re working with customers where we know there’s going to be excess vinyl flooring waste, we discuss this at the point of quotation. So, even if we don’t get the job, the clients are aware there’s an eco-friendlier way of disposing of the waste.
12: How important do you think sustainability should be for flooring companies?
I think sustainability is something that is relatively new in terms of the smaller flooring companies. It really should be a key focus for any new or established flooring company. It’s a lot easier now to be sustainable than it was 10 years ago and generally speaking, it doesn’t cost anything to be more sustainable. We can all do our bit.
13: What’s the best thing about using Recofloor?
Just the simplicity of it. The scheme is extremely accessible for everyone, it doesn’t really matter how much material there is. It doesn’t matter if you are just fitting a small bathroom or 150 bedrooms in a care room; the scheme is very easy to use. And working with Fitwell makes the process that much easier. Then there’s peace of mind in knowing that any clean materials that can be recycled are being dealt with in the right way.
14: Can you think of anything we could change that would make Recofloor even better?
No, everything is literally perfect!
