What can textile flooring be recycled into?

What textile flooring materials can be recycled?

Trims from production
Offcuts from installation/fitting
Sample books
Broadloom carpet roll ends
Used broadloom carpet
Sorted waste streams eg. Clean polypropylene tufted carpet offcuts / wool offcuts
New and used carp
et tiles of various grades – full bitumen backed tiles and even part tiles
Underlay offcuts – sorted PU, wool, felt
Rugs

What can carpet be recycled into?

More and more uses are being found for carpet waste as new technologies develop.

Recycling wool rich carpet

Underlay and insulation

Fibres from wool rich carpets have excellent insulating properties making them perfect for use in underlay and both sound and heat insulation products. The waste carpet fibres are pulled and blended with other fibres to create suitable materials. The process is being used both for fitting offcuts and for offcuts produced during manufacture – carpet manufacturers can now create a closed loop system and stop sending waste to landfill.

Compost and growing media

Due to the high nitrogen content, the fibres from wool-rich carpet are ideal as a peat replacement and soil enhancer for contained growing media (for example, in grow mats for herbs, green roofs and compost.)

Recycling synthetic carpets

Equestrian surfaces: Mixed synthetic carpet is shredded and mixed with sand, to form a surface for equestrian use. Nylon recovery: Nylon from carpets can be extruded and injection moulded into engineering plastics such as washing machine parts or wheel trims. Polypropylene recovery: Carpets with polypropylene face fibre and polypropylene backing can be shredded, granulated and extruded into pellets.

Carpet tile re-use

Carpet tiles with a durable nylon pile can often be re-furbished and re-used. There are a growing number of carpet tile re-use and re-sale schemes, often run by community organisations which give training placements to marginalised people and provide low-cost flooring to households and charities. For suppliers of used carpet tiles, see Find used carpet tiles.

Broadloom Carpet reuse

Surplus carpet rolls can be resold through our members or charities. They can be resized to make rugs, whipping the edges to protect them.

Carpet tile recycling

Where carpet tiles aren’t suitable for re-use, they can be recycled by separating the nylon fibres from the bitumen backing. The fibres are then recycled into yarn for new carpet, and the bitumen into applications such as roofing and road surfaces.

Energy from waste

There will always be some carpet waste that can’t be recycled, either because it is too difficult to separate out the different materials or because the carpet is too contaminated by what’s been spilt on it during its lifetime. As carpet has a high calorific value, however, this unrecyclable carpet waste can be put to use to produce energy from waste (EFW) – for example, as a fuel replacement for cement kilns. Carpet Recycling UK can connect you to our members and wider network. Find a recycler here. Contact us to discuss your waste, we can help you to consider the most feasible options available with the waste hierarchy in mind.