We have invested in, and installed, the world's first safety flooring recycling system. It offers a closed loop recycling process and can recycle over 500 tonnes of factory waste PVC every year. Our safety floors also contain up to 20% recycled content including post-consumer recycled glass.
Altro XpressLay is the first safety floor that's 100% recyclable post-consumer. What that means is, after it's been installed it can be rolled up and reused elsewhere and at the end of its life we can then recycle it.
Recofloor
Waste is an ongoing issue in the construction industry, and manufacturers need to take responsibility for their waste down the supply chain. This is why we're one of two founder members of Recofloor, the industry's vinyl take back scheme which collects safety and smooth vinyl off cuts and uplifted smooth vinyl, and diverts them from landfill.
As the first manufacturer to recycle safety flooring in-house, we collect all the safety flooring on behalf of the scheme, even if we didn't produce it. The waste vinyl flooring can come from flooring contractors, distributors and large construction sites including retail refurbishments using reverse logistics. We recycle these off cuts into new vinyl flooring, and any collected post-consumer smooth vinyl is recycled into traffic calming products like road cone bases. We launched the scheme in 2009 and by the end of 2014, Recofloor had collected and recycled over 2,500 tonnes of waste vinyl flooring.
Why take part in Recofloor?
- Customers are becoming increasingly keen to see vinyl flooring recycled at the end of life
- The scheme helps us, and participants, comply with the Site Waste Management legislation, (requiring all waste to be pre-treated before going to landfill)
- It can save you a significant amount of money on disposal costs; Recofloor has a cost calculator to enable you to see how much this could be
- Those who do participate receive a Certificate of Commitment to the scheme and can gain recognition by receiving one of our gold, silver or bronze awards
- It feels good to be doing your bit for the environment
Find out more about how Recofloor work by taking a look at their short video.
Download a copy of Recofloor's drop-off site directory
Recowall
We partnered with VEKA Recycling to set up the UK's first wall cladding recycling scheme, Recowall, which is unique in the PVC wall cladding sector. We placed recycling bins at ten Altro Whiterock Premier Installer sites around the UK, where contractors can deposit clean, adhesive-free off cuts and thermoformed corners from site. The waste is collected free of charge, processed down, palletised and recycled into new window profiles.
Since its launch in 2010, Recowall has recycled over 60 tonnes of Altro Whiterock. And although it's a much smaller scheme than Recofloor, Recowall is important because it demonstrates that Altro Whiterock can be, and is, being recycled.
Resin Flooring Association (FeRFA)
Altro Resins is part of the FeRFA initiative to halve waste to landfill in the resin flooring industry.
Recycling internationally
Recofloor has been so successful in the UK because it can take advantage of reverse logistics, which provide a cost effective way of returning material to the Altro Letchworth site for recycling. But this isn't so viable internationally, where it's often easier to take advantage of local recycling opportunities, such as Golv Atervinning in Sweden. The amount of waste collected per annum under this scheme has increased from 213 to 294 tonnes, showing a 38% growth since the scheme began in 2009.
The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Pvc-Bodenbelag Recycling (AgPR) recycling facility in Germany has successfully recycled vinyl flooring waste for many years too. And Recofloor has also been extended to Australia and New Zealand where, although in its infancy, it's successfully diverting waste vinyl flooring from landfill.