Carpet recycling could be given a boost
February 26, 2010 at 2:57 pm
The UK’s carpet recycling industry may be in its infancy but Manchester based firm, Axion Consulting, is hoping to boost its growth by carrying out trials to produce plastic polymer suitable for reuse from polypropylene carpets.
Almost two thirds of carpets in the UK include polypropylene so if these trials are successful they could result in a ground-breaking move to increase the UK carpet recycling rate from the current paltry 2%. Over 500,000 tonnes of carpet waste is generated each year with the vast majority of it being incinerated or sent to landfill.
The trials were started by the London based trade association, Carpet Recycling UK, which seems cautiously optimistic about the results so far.
Axion has said that the plastic extracted from recycled polypropylene carpets is suitable for injection moulded projects such as paint pots, compost bins and dustbins. Carpet Recycling UK has, however, pointed out that further research and long-term trials would need to be carried out to see whether it is commercially viable and further funding is required to do this.
Another potential problem arises from the fact that the plastic can only be extracted from pure PP (polypropylene) carpets and not from those made from a mixture of materials.
The Axion trial was funded by Envirolink Northwest and their spokesman, Dave West, hopes that not only will the increase in carpet recycling be good for the environment, helping to meet the government targets, but will also benefit the north-west in terms of building a low carbon economy with the attendant advantage of creating and sustaining jobs.
It should be considered because it just goes to the land fill sites which destroy the earth and create more pollution.