EVENT:Carpet recycling draws great interest at Ecobuild

CRUK's presence at Ecobuild 2011 with both a stand and seminar programme was a great success with more than 140 new contacts gained from across the supply chain at the London event.

Seminars covered key areas of interest to a design and construction audience, including eco design for recycling, with presentations from Rudi Daelmans on Desso's Cradle to Cradle goals as well as Jason Holmes on the development of Green Design Culture at Forbo. The sessions were well-attended by a cross-section of delegates, from architects and specifiers to manufacturers and end users of recyclate.

The event also generated several membership leads, including new enquiries from raw material suppliers, manufacturers and recyclers. “There was great interest from companies looking to use alternative materials in their products and how they can incorporate these concepts as eco-friendly solutions. As a result, we are expecting a good response to our Entrepreneurs' Event at our annual Conference in July,” said Co-ordinator Jane Gardner.

Seminar presentations can be downloaded from the resources page of the CRUK website here.

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CONFERENCE: Call for papers for Entrepreneurs' Event

CRUK has issued a call for papers for potential speakers to address its two-day annual conference on July 5.

Its third annual conference at Birmingham's Institute of Engineering & Technology will focus on Design for Recycling and includes an Entrepreneurs' Event, which aims to share knowledge and the latest technological developments with delegates.

Jane Gardner explains: “The aim is to encourage recyclers and businesses to look at carpet recyclate as a valuable raw material and resource that can be given a second life in new applications. We're hoping to attract speakers on a range of subjects to encourage wider reuse of carpet waste -topics could include results from collection and recycling trials or re-use initiatives, for example.”

Open to both members and non-members, interested speakers are asked to submit an abstract of no more than 500 words on their chosen topic by April 15th. Synopses should be sent to Jane Gardner jane@carpetrecyclinguk.com.

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EVENT: Solutions for Bulky Waste in the South East

February saw a third event organised by Remade South East aimed at promoting practical solutions to carpet and mattress waste in the region. The networking meeting in Guildford was supported by CRUK and funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) & South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and it attracted over 40 delegates from public, private and third sector organisations.

There were presentations by industry specialists 4Recycling Ltd, Countrystyle UK as well as Scout Enterprises, with question and answer sessions as well as one-to-one surgeries with speakers.

David Trice, ZeroWISE Bulky Waste Project Officer, commented “These events enable major stakeholders to share ideas and work together to reduce the volumes of Bulky Waste. This event has already seen results with one link formed which is expected to result in 5 tonnes of material diverted from landfill per week. ”

Further information on the event and the three year Bulky Waste project is available at www.remade-southeast.co.uk or by contacting d.trice@remade-southeast.co.uk

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RESEARCH: Energy recovery and carbon capture from carpet

A new piece of research conducted by Gigi Han Ma at Imperial College London has demonstrated the value of carpet wastes as a source of high energy fuel oils using carbonization at 850 degrees in an inert atmosphere. This research was funded by DEFRA as part of the 2010 CIWM/Defra Masters support programme.

CRUK were asked to provide materials and expertise for comparison with other textile waste streams. Carpets are already being used for the production of fuel flock as an alternative fuel in cement kilns due to their high calorific value.

By comparison with textile wastes from garment sources the calorific values of the oils derived from carpet wastes are 80% higher. The energy recovered by char and oil relative to total energy consumption was also higher for carpet wastes at 69% compared with 48%.

Read more about this research here

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RESEARCH: Wool carpet in phosphate removal and recovery

This research project carried out by Oscar Duple Garcia at Cranfield University was also funded by the CIWM/Defra Masters programme. Carpet Recycling UK supplied the carpet shred samples made by Greenback Recycling and acted as industrial mentors for this research.

The MSc project has successfully bound either hydrated ferric oxide nanoparticles or a copper salt onto waste wool carpets to form a sorbent material, that is able to 'soak' up another substance.

There are estimated to be more than 100,000 tonnes per annum of wool-rich carpet waste arisings in UK and this research provides the basis for development of alternative outlets for this valuable waste stream, with potential applications in the sustainable treatment of agricultural runoff, sewage treatment and landfill leachate.

Read a research brief online here.

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OUTLET: Innovative NW Carpet Recycler set for rapid expansion

CRUK member Stop Waste is a rapidly developing new company whose focus is recycling carpets, carpet tiles and plastics. Built on the extensive engineering skills of founders Jonathan Quinn and father John, Stop Waste also benefits from the specialist carpet recycling expertise of team members Les Cousens and Robert Hepworth.

Since opening their first recycling depot in 2010 in the North West, the company has processed 1400 tonnes of carpet waste with a projected 5000 tonnes this year. A partnership with Stopford Projects Ltd has allowed them to access technologies and look towards gaining capital funding to develop a further 5 plants across the UK in the next 5 years, to increase handling capacity to an estimated 35,000 in three years and create at least 25 new jobs.

With these expanding capabilities for processing carpet waste, a growing number of local authorities in the region are now taking advantage of this new opportunity for landfill diversion. For further information please contact Jonathan Quinn on 07885775804 stop_waste@yahoo.com or visit: www.stopwasteltd.com.

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