Reco42 recycling success

Nonwovens manufacturer Anglo Recycling Technology estimates that in 2011 it recycled between 10-20% of the total UK carpet manufacturing waste for use in its latest Reco42 underlay.

Anglo takes wool-rich carpet edges from all the major UK carpet manufacturers and has developed a process to recycle them back into fibres which are then incorporated into the underlay product.

And a new partnership with Carpet Recycling UK will see the company recycle even more carpet waste by making available a new source of raw materials – this time through collection from retailers.

“We have set up a project with Carpet Recycling UK to take the production offcuts from local carpet shops and recycle them,” explains Anglo MD Simon Macaulay. “Shops will now receive a promotional pack so their customers will become aware of the good environmental work they are doing. The UK’s Carpet and Flooring Group has also been a great supporter of our new product and is now taking it in bulk and promoting it through the customer bases of its member companies.”

Anglo manufactures and supplies a wide range of carpet felt underlays from recycled and sustainable materials, using traditional needlepunch production techniques.

Felt underlay has outstanding acoustic and heat insulation properties – in a recent analysis by an environmental scientist from the École des Mines in France, the company discovered that during production, its carbon footprint on a 42oz felt is less than 10g/CO_² per square metre of felt. This is significantly less than the CO_² generated in making a single packet of crisps