In this in-depth analysis, CFJ reports on one of a three-part sustainability special on the CRUK Conference in Solihull. By HARRIET WHITAKER | SOLIHULL
ON 29-30 June 2022, Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK) hosted its annual conference at the voco St John’s Hotel in Solihull. CFJ was invited to attend to see how the carpet and textile flooring industry intends to adapt to sustainability and the circular economy (CE).
Over the two days, there were presentations from a variety of companies from the US, EU, and UK and professionals in the textile flooring industry who shared ideas about how their companies are evolving towards a more sustainable environment.
Adnan Zeb-Khan – Carpet Recycling UK, Manager
Adnan joined Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK) as manager in 2018. He holds chartered membership of the Institution of Wastes Management (MCIWM), a BSc (Hons) degree in manufacturing management and a PRINCE2 project management qualification. Adnan has a wealth of waste management experience working with public, private and community sector organisations spanning over 20 years.
Presentation summary
Adnan presented on the key achievements of CRUK and its involvement in the industry’s advancements towards sustainability. He elaborated on the circular economy, the current developments in the sector, the likely challenges the industry faces, and the positive outcomes which could impact the future of textile flooring in a sustainable world.
Presentation excerpts
At 120, CRUK has a record high number of members. Six months ago, we had nine core funder members – this has risen to 16 and now includes Balsan, Betap, Brintons, Condor Group, Cormar Carpet Co, ege, Furlong Flooring, Gradus, Headlam, IVC Commercial, Likewise Group, Milliken, Modulyss, Rawson Carpet Solutions, Shaw and Tarkett. The company is gaining recognition as the only organisation in the UK promoting sustainability throughout the sector; one key area of membership CRUK would like to increase is raw material suppliers as this will directly support manufacturers and it is delighted to welcome Universal Fibers as a new member since the conference.
CRUK is the only company constantly analysing and independently measuring statistics of carpet and textile flooring waste in the UK flooring sector and highlighted the importance of the sector’s involvement in the annual surveys.CRUK continues to liaise with the Environment Agency and other policy advisers regarding a timed framework which allows carpet and textile flooring waste to be used for equine surfaces. CRUK is helping the sector to develop best practice standards to assist with favourable policy outcomes for the sector and policymakers.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is the legislation the sector is expecting to be introduced. EPR is a policy approach where producers will be required to contribute financially to the way their products are treated and disposed of at the end-of-life. During 2023, it is anticipated consultations with the sector will start to take place and CRUK intends to lead on these. The UK is also learning from the approach of other EU countries such as France for new sustainable processes and policies. As the sector advances towards the circular economy (CE), there are challenges but also positive opportunities including the reduction of carbon footprint, energy costs and internal C02 emissions. It is hoped the work the sector has done so far on a voluntary basis will be recognised by an EPR policy and that progress made by the companies involved within CRUK’s network will be looked upon favourably.
Bob Peoples, executive director of CARE
Bob Peoples PhD, is executive director of Carpet American Recovery Effort (CARE) working to implement market-based solutions for reuse and recycle of post-consumer carpet. A veteran of the chemical industry, he was director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute in Washington DC and serves as the founding executive director and board member of CARE. He also serves as president of the consulting firm Environmental Impact Group, LLC. Dr Peoples spent 23 years with Monsanto and its spinoff Solutia where he was director of Nylon Technology.
Presentation summary
Bob presented the trends and developments in the US regarding sustainability highlighting the parallel issues being processed in the US and explained the differences in how they’re playing out compared to the UK. He also explained how Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine impacted supply chains and transportation costs where the aftermath is still being dealt with.
Presentation excerpts
We’re learning how to live with implications of Covid-19, it’ll be around for a long time and it’s not going to get resolved short term. The recycling industry has been hit hard by the economy recession in 2008-09 which we’re still recovering from, and we’ve been hit by the China National Sword Programme, which also impacted but acted as a catalyst for good changes that are becoming apparent.
Water availability is an upcoming issue because it’s going to become scarce in the future. There are sustainability problems regarding water which we’re going have to deal with regarding climate change and the heating of the planet. These will create implications for many people worldwide.
What’s currently happening in the US flooring industry is we’ve seen over the last decade, a 30% decline in carpet within the market. We see this continuing, but the rate of decline is faster in California.
You’ve seen in the UK, focus on carpets in landfills and recycling, but not on other flooring types. It’s the same over in the US but conversations on LVT are starting. LVT has seen growth which is taking shares from the carpet sector. It’s easy to talk about the impact of it but we need to understand the impact on the commercial sector including tile versus broadloom, the builders’ market, and the rental market, where implications on tile legislation are far greater than those on the individual residential market and purchases. We’ve peeled a lot of layers off this onion, but we’ve got a long way to go.
Regarding California-based recycling materials they’re uniquely supported because of legislation by a subsidy in the marketplace however, there’s no subsidy program available for the rest of the US, outside California. We used to have a voluntary programme funded by the carpet industry but when the pandemic hit, the programme ended in June 2020, and we’ve not seen a restart since, so we’re seeing a big challenge between Californian and non-Californian-based subsidised materials.
Recycling is being driven by the plastics waste problem, which is visible to brand owners such as Proctor and Gamble, and Unilever. These brands have approached the chemical industry to supply materials derived from post-consumer plastics to solve this problem by putting in place these mechanisms to recycle post-consumer sourced material. CARE is working closely with several of these companies. Identification technology and innovation are vital to supply the higher value chemical processing operations.
It’s our 20-year anniversary but we’re just getting started regarding sustainability. CARE was formed and supported by the carpet industry in the beginning with three key states. There’s those in the US today who will say, market-based solutions for carpet recycling don’t exist, we need subsidies. This highlights differing attitudes between the recycling community, the carpet industry, and several of the federal and state agencies we’re dealing with. It’s a complex subject and dialogue is essential. The NGOs who want to block chemical recycling don’t understand the various technologies nor how the right approach is essential to solving the plastics waste challenge.
There are many issues and differences CARE and CRUK are currently dealing with. One of the differences CRUK has is support from the manufacturing side, so they work together to find solutions. Some of it has to do with the culture in Europe. In the US however, industry is less supportive of legislated solutions because we believe in market-based solutions. And unlike Europe, many in the US don’t support energy recovery as a form of recycling. How I see it individually for CARE, not everything can be recycled so maybe it’s better to derive fuel or energy from it, rather than send it to landfill. While not considered recycling, it’s landfill diversion and capture of residual value. Enclosed loop in my mind doesn’t necessarily mean it has to go back to the same product it started from but going back to purified material, indistinguishable from virgin oil-derived materials, would allow it to go into any acceptable application, in this case plastics.
We have deep databases which find information from perspectives we analyse monthly. There are programme elements involved in California where we’ve gathered statistics about different elements and with finding more ways to collate data, it’s an accurate way of showing what’s happening through means of graphs and programmes. We’ve major concerns about the loss of carpet sales owing to increasing assessments, and thus the availability of old carpet to be recycled.
Ross Dight – Technical and Sustainability Director, Tarkett
Ross joined Tarkett in April 2019 after gaining an MBA at the University of South Wales and 15 years in the broadloom carpet and retail sector. Leading the technical and sustainability function of the business for Tarkett UK and Ireland; bringing value to the organisation by orchestrating and improving our support with sales, customers, and clients. ‘I thrive on being challenged and problem solving especially on the topic of sustainability which we are all, in the construction industry, actively acting upon’.
Presentation summary
Ross explained the steps Tarkett has taken towards sustainable recycling with the development of a closed-loop system and its aims for the future.
Presentation excerpts
At Tarkett, we’ve a list of principles we follow and have teamed up with SBTi, (Science Based Targets Initiative) to allocate two main streams of focus, one of which is reduced carbon emissions, a huge deal in terms of sustainability.
Globally, Tarkett has nine recycling centres and currently, EPD (Environmental Product Declarations) verified, we’re the only flooring manufacturer in Europe to pioneer closed loop for post¹ use carpet tiles, linoleum, and vinyl.
Vinyl came into place this year, so post-use even with contaminates and the substrates on the back, the company can now take old vinyl away, wash the backing, leave clean, and make new vinyl from it. In 1957, Tarkett entered the world of recycling. And still today, we’ve a challenge because we’re on the developing journey. In 2019, the company opened a recycling centre in the Netherlands, where it allowed the yarn to be stripped from the backing with technology, strip the materials and make it closed loop, which enables it to go back into the manufacturing process.
Circular economy is a driver for the company to hit that verified 30% of recycled content we want to achieve by 2030. One of the challenges we face regarding taking carpet tiles back is we’ll get requests asking us how we want it stored but there’s a lot of logistical admins to make it happen. For example, when they want pallets but don’t have any, we’ll send some out so they can send their material back to us to recycle. Recycling is key because we need to make sure we don’t extract as much raw materials as we have been doing. We’ve produced a document showcasing our products and the climate benefits from recycling those products. For example, regarding the clean offcuts during installation, we save 3.6 kilos of C02 per sq m through recycling.
Another element we’ve introduced through our website is the carbon calculator to help specifiers and flooring contractors who are continuously asking for more information. The science is a selection of materials which is a driver to make sure we’re making sustainable products. Design also comes into the process which is why we follow these third-party verified principles. Recycled content isn’t just about taking back our flooring materials, we’re looking at other ways to recycle content as well. PVB (Poly Vinyl Butral) from windscreens for example, can feed into our raw material chain. We’ve recently developed another partnership. In Estonia, there are many thousands of tonnes of ash. They burn fuels, leave the ash parts and let them rot. We have the technology to take this material and make them into fillers for our vinyl production.
We’ve a selection brochure which is designed to help clients make good choices and we’ve a range of products that’re made from installation through to post – use after they’ve been installed.
Regarding green certifications, recycling will help buildings achieve certifications in the green building world. It’s something we’re asked weekly, ‘Can you support your products on these certifications?’ The answer is ‘yes,’ and one of the ones we can support straight away is the recycling part of it. We wouldn’t be as advanced and have the relationships in the UK if it wasn’t for the likes of CRUK making sure we stay relevant. There are different yarns, backings, manufacturers, logistics, recycling stories and technologies, but we all have a responsibility of sustainability.
M Ranae Anderson – Global Sustainability Leader, Universal Fibers
As Universal Fibers’ Global Sustainability Leader and 2018 WSLA winner, Ranae Anderson is responsible for championing and directing all global initiatives supporting continuous improvement of the company’s carbon footprint and community programs in which we work and live.
Advance degrees: M.S. degree in Colloids, polymers, and surface chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. Bachelor’s degree in chemistry Tuskegee University.
Presentation summary
Ranae explained the recycling achievements Universal Fibres has accomplished since being founded in 1969.
Presentation excerpts
We’re the first company to market solution dye technology back in 1970s, and in 1994, we were the first to incorporate post-industrial content into our nylon 6,6 fibre.
Now a global company since 2004, we specialise in a variety of products in different chemistries and have technologies to product unique specialty finishes. Universal Fibers may be best known for our colour expertise. We’ve formulators, chemists, and various teams working day and night on colour concepts because it’s one of our specialties. We’re also known for our sustainable products with our extremely low carbon footprint and recycled content. When we started back in 1969, we were incorporating a number of sustainable processes, but we just didn’t publicise it. As we continued to evolve, we went global with our manufacturing lines, opening a plant in Thailand, in 2006 we opened a plant in China and in 2019, we launched our newest plant in Poland. We first hit the market with a recycled content product called Phoenix fibre, which consisted of 40% post-industrial material back in 1994.
In 2002, we became a member of CARE, and it’s through that collaboration we’ve helped revert a great amount of recycling waste from landfill.
We work with Nylon 6 and 6,6 materials, various PETs (Polyethylene terephthalate) and traditional and non-traditional vinyl. We also have a closed-loop system at our plants in all our regional facilities. We use deformed PET bottles which are no longer for serviceable use and incorporate them back into our manufacturing processes. We also use a closed-loop system externally, by working with the neighbouring facilities by incorporating their waste materials into our products too.
Universal Fibers also works with designers and end users to spread awareness and transparency, thus creating a positive impact. We’ve recently had the opportunity to work on a client toolkit, aimed at interior designers, along with a multi-stakeholder team. The goal of the toolkit was to develop a set of informing tools that designers could utilise when they’re looking to develop low-carbon interiors.
When we look at our products, we want to incorporate the largest amount of recycled content possible. That’s why all our products have a very minimum of 20% recycled content across the board. We realise there needs to be an understanding and appreciation of waste and it needs to be investigated to see if it could better be served in different industries. We believe that recycling along with a keen focus on embodied carbon are where Universal Fibers really creates the greatest impact on this sustainability journey.
We’ve been working on reducing our C02 emissions since 2015, when we conducted our first LCA. We’re always speaking with suppliers as we look to capture and understand our supply chain and key impacts. Our recently launched Thrive matter product has outstanding sustainability features.
We adjusted recycled content ratios between post-industrial and post-consumer and optimised them. This was one factor that allowed us to achieve a C02 carbon footprint of 1.45 kg which is the lowest in the industry for Nylon 6, and 2.52 kg for Nylon 6,6 fibre. This achievement was huge, but we wanted to further reduce this to below zero. This focus is primarily because of the GHG emissions and the contribution in building structures. This is a focus of ours. We’re able to achieve this ‘below zero’ carbon footprint by partnering with CarbonFund.org in support of certified carbon projects that support reforestation and clean energy projects around the world.
We can help balance the needs of our customers whilst supporting our suppliers.
The takeaway is through innovation and collaboration, we believe we can maximize our positive impact while minimizing our carbon footprint, identifying, and utilising materials and resources we have available. This is how we can be proud environmental stewards.
Andy Murphy – Melrose Interiors Ltd, Managing Director
Andy has a wealth of experience in the flooring industry, gaining understanding first on the factory floor as a teenager. Working in Europe, Turkey, India, and China to enhance his technical expertise, he then specialised in consulting with a number of large UK FMCG brands.
A proud Yorkshireman and passionate about recycling, he is driven to align circular product development with UK production and logistics. In the wake of greenwashing in the consumer goods market, his focus with the Relay brand is to create a meaningful sustainable range, that has transparent and tangible benefits for the consumer and environment.
Presentation summary
Andy spoke about moving Relay into the circular economy for UK retailers, about how the company contributes to the world of recycling and reverse logistics and the steps they’re taking towards ESG and involvement with community projects.
Presentation excerpts
Relay is a sustainability brand that sits within the Melrose Interiors Ltd business. Based in Yorkshire, Relay operates out of a 30,000sq ft facility, converting over 2,400 tonnes post-industrial waste annually. The core business started with converting post-industrial carpet waste into hand finished rugs, runners and mats, the current capacity is conversion of 15,000sq m a week. The business’s focus over the last three years has been to expand the range of different polymers and materials we can recycle and offer in the Relay range of flooring. The range now includes recycled polyester, polypropylene, cotton and a programme of natural fibres including jute, coir and sisal.
Alongside product development, Relay has a massive focus on minimising packaging in general and ensuring any plastic or cardboard packaging contains a very high recycled content, with targets and timeframes in place to convert to 100% recycled materials.
Sustainability is becoming a key decision maker in the consumer purchasing process, particularly for the younger market. 75% of consumers have a willingness to recycle, therefore the brand believes ownership of development in this area should be with the retailer, importer, or distributor. Relay is working on several new programmes with this in mind, including manufacturing rugs that can be folded, reducing the transit packaging and distribution volumetric. Andy also stated his frustration that more focus is required from central government and retailers to increase the number of sustainable products that have high recycled content or use a single polymer, as well as increasing the recycled content of transit packaging.
Collaborating with several key UK retailers to develop closed-loop product schemes, Relay is currently working on recycling cotton-rich fashion garments and home textiles. The garments are collated through a takeback scheme, and with full batch visibility, these surplus items are sent out to our factory partners to be processed and woven back into recycled cotton rich rugs.
Andy announced the launch of Relay Takeback scheme in Autumn 2022, this service enables end-of-life rugs to be collected from the consumer’s home, then returned back to the Yorkshire Relay site to be made ready for recycling. Once recycled, the rug can be made into other homewares. At each stage of this recycling process, the consumer can be kept up to date with this process via their preferred means.
Relay has embraced its ESG commitment and worked very hard over the last 18 months to build a meaningful strategy which has seen great improvements, particularly in the areas of social and governance compliance. A huge amount of work is currently being undertaken to engage with schools and colleges to develop work experience and strong pathways from education into the workplace. The brand has also purchased some woodland locally to help offset their carbon footprint and create an educational centre.
The work to be done now is regarding product development and keeping a closed-loop focus in mind. There are some huge industry issues to overcome but the brand is hoping they can turn it into an opportunity.
Guy Stanton – Rawson Carpet Solutions, Director
Guy graduated from university to work in construction, he has previously set up a new branch for Wolseley group and was the UK managing director of Nora Systems for 10 years. He has been a board director at WE Rawson for five years now and, following a rebranding of the carpets division, his focus is new products with design and sustainability USP’s.
Rawson Carpet Solutions is a UK manufacturing company established since 1865, manufacturing flooring coverings for over 55 years, supplying commercial carpet sheet, tiles and entrance solutions to the education, workspace, hospitality, public, sport, and retail sectors.
Presentation summary
Guy presented a new product named Recover which Rawson has developed over the past three years and was released earlier this year. It’s carpet sheet entirely and a solution to full recyclability. He spoke about the steps the company took to create and develop the new product with sustainability in mind.
Presentation excerpts
Rawson is a large private company in Wakefield. The turnover is circa £100 million and we’ve three divisions: Applied felts, the fillings division, and Rawson Carpet Solutions – we have an 11-acre site in Wakefield where we produce our products.
We modified our nylon ranges and refreshed our fibre-bond heritage range. In doing so, we realised there was opportunity to provide a sustainable solution. We began three years ago with a strategy to create a recyclable carpet sheet and tile solution cradle-to-cradle. The first step was analysis of raw materials, and it was logical to consider polyester or PET because it’s a flooring material with a much softer finish than polypropylene. We had bulk access and large volumes of the product which falls in line with the global recycling standard which is important to the group.
The process of manufacturing the new Recover product using polyester is three simple manufacturing processes. The first one is needle felt for surfaces which has been used for 60 years and the process involves applying carefully selected polyester fibres. We carried out tests to find one suitable before moving on to utilising an in-house machine. Rawson is one of a few companies in Europe that can produce this backing, utilising polyester fibres but ensuring we create the product with the same rigidity and density required to provide the resistance to general carpet use. We wanted the product to be adhesive free and found using the in-house bonding system enabled us to bond these two surfaces of the backing together and remain completely adhesive free and single polymer. We created a product, uncontaminated with any other but we thought about contamination implications upon lifting. Carpet tiles are adhered to floors, so we worked closely with a couple of adhesive/screed manufacturers to create an adhesive solution which would enable non-transfer of adhesives from the subfloor to the carpet tile upon lifting. The multitude of thorough testing was carried out including numerous tests of laying the product and then trying to lift it.
After, the product went through dye cutting where the company recycles production waste and then the product is tested. We use 80% of recycled fibre, GRS approved, and at the time of design, we had to make 20% of the product using polyester binder fibre because it was only available as a virgin raw material.
So far, we’ve recycled it into reusable quality. It’s completely 100% fully recyclable and we’re happy with the durability tests we’ve carried out, achieving class 33 which is heavy contract floors suited for commercial use.
We want to provide a solution to our clients that must come from the front-end, a client initiative, so we worked with contracting firms to offer consultancy services by including us in the CDM regulations with hand-over manual to ensure our information and knowledge is there to support the process when they come to uplift the product.
The product is light-weight, approximately half the weight of a normal carpet-tile providing less weight in transport, making it an easier product to handle and easy to cut. It’s pure polyester so we’ve been taking it to flooring contractors and asking them to do flooring demonstrations with it. They’re always surprised by how easy and safe it is to cut through. The product has high thermal acoustic properties in its nature and because we produce in-house, we can adjust it to any density that’s required. We expect in the end, we’ll have plans requiring a comfort back version, making it easy to modify the backing to create higher sound production properties and resistances.
Regarding the company’s recycling scheme, we recycle internal waste across all three divisions of our company. We can recycle 30,000m per year using one of two recycling cells internally. We recycle ‘Recover’ skeletal waste. It gets fed into the system which gets reduced to pure fibre and filtered to produce the backing. We use this throughout the divisions where several polyester products have got a film laminated to the surface. The splitter machine removes the finest layer of the surface, removing the polyurethane film, and the rest of the polyester is put through the system and reused. The process is as follows: Recover, recycle back into fibre, put back through the system to produce recover base whilst limiting the use of new or purchased raw materials. At the end of this process of manufacturing, we use up to 80 recycled plastic bottles per sq m as a finished recycled product.
At the time the product was complete, we were applying EPD accreditations for our heritage ranges, so it was naturally put through for an EPD which is complete and online. We found our standard fibre-bonded manufactured products offered a low global warming potential C02 output compared to alternatives in the marketplace. What we want in the long-term, is to move to a circular system. ‘Recover’ proved to offer exceptionally low output figures in its production. The lowest we could find and so is clearly limiting the global warming effect in manufacture. Although the C02 output is low, we’d like to offset that so our next target to achieve, would be a carbon neutral offering of this product range completely. We’d love to take this to market and show our clients what’s possible with a product that’s recyclable. We currently offer our nylon range completely Carbon Neutral.
The end product is a fully recyclable solution made from up to 80% recycled materials with low carbon usage in manufacture. The target originally set has been met. We look forward to showing this new product to prospective clients with a view to assisting the redirection of materials from landfill and supporting the lowest possible effect on our environment.
Jan Vincent Jordan – Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University, Facilitating and leading Sustainable Innovation
Jan graduated in mechanical engineering (Dr Ing) and in plastics and textile engineering (MSc), contributed to development of European and international standards, guidelines and digital tools to increase circularity of textiles, composite materials, personal protective equipment and floor coverings. Coordinating ITA’s European RD&I activities. Leading the design of a support tool in a Horizon Europe project on ‘Circular Sustainable Floor coverings (CISUFLO)’.
Presentation summary
Jan spoke about the Horizon 2020 Innovation Action ‘CISUFLO’. He explained how the consortium prepares the piloting of innovative technologies, fostering collaboration, and establishing processes to improve materials’ recovery and drive the flooring sector in Europe towards a circular economy.
Presentation excerpts
We’re always working on developing and implementing innovative technologies and products to improve materials’ recovery and drive the flooring sector in Europe towards a circular economy, which is why in the project, among others a systemic transition support tool for circular and sustainable floor coverings is being developed. The project aims at minimising the environmental impact and focuses on design for circularity, piloting automated material recognition and sorting technologies as well as piloting innovative material separation technologies.
Regarding product development, looking at what can be designed to process, it’s not just the invention of a product but it’s also about finding ways to enhance the processes and understanding collection is an important aspect to ensure sufficient materials volume-wise are investigated. There are many practises we need to connect and learn from.
Our project is researching design for recycling, identification, sorting, and separation technologies. One of which involves the separation of yarns of backing fabrics (PA and PP) however, latex and bitumen backings are not regarded in the project. There are manufacturers of other sectors researching these materials. Another aspect we want to initiate are discussions, new business opportunities and business models to benefit various stakeholder groups in the value chains, (also in other industrial sectors with which ‘industrial symbiosis’ can be established/strengthened). One of the main elements we discuss is legislation, existing credential collection schemes, separation technologies, established business models, and partners interested stakeholders can connect with.
The project overview includes recycling and investigating what can be done for current environments, hence why the consortium currently sets up pilot systems. Pilot one is the manufacturing of circular floor coverings which includes the development integration of tags, design, and simulation. Pilot two is the main interest for carpet developments, which include identification and sorting. Pilot three regards the separation of materials to ensure elements can be recycled. Pilot four includes laminate flooring recycling, pilot five involves the recycling process for vinyl flooring and pilot six provides focus on textile flooring.
What we can do for the other material types besides PA and PP, is knowledge that we link in our transition support tool. Our consortium consists of nine industrial partners, four cluster associations, and six research centres throughout Europe, hence more industrial partners than research, which is pointing in the right direction. There’s also a transition support group which is an open group of entities that’re interested in following the project results but also in engaging in workshops.
Work has been done and being prepared for the pilots I’ve mentioned, and we’ve seen samples of material from different industries. One benefit would be to catalogue and identify for example, a whole rack of carpet and bring it into a type of recycling. In this project, we’re looking at the automated separation process, types of identification and we’re now testing with different partners. I’ve understood closed-loop recycling where collection schemes and contracts with customers, would be an option to bring identification tags into the system so materials can be easily identified and sorted accordingly.
Regarding automatically handling textiles, the material feed situation at recyclers’ sites is challenging. At ITA there are several gripper concepts available for the automated handling of semi finished composite materials (‘preforming’), which could be used to investigate possibilities to separate carpet piles. Similar questions are also relevant for the textile service sectors, in which piles of clothing need separation as well. WIRTEX (now DTV), the former German association for the textile service sector held a conference in 2018 with a focus of robotics and automation in the laundry sector, and they asked the question, ‘how can we automatically separate clothes via recognition of colours and materials?’ Concepts were presented which might be applicable also for the floor covering recyclers – it would need to be tested.
Another aspect is to focus on design for circularity. How would the installation be carried out? What are the credential alternatives for the current fixation on a floor to make care and removal sustainable? This is part of our project’s research. The challenges of the approach are considering the life cycles, the end consumers, and installers and how they carry out maintenance and installation processes. Sociologists support the project by providing suggestions on how to design the human machine interface of the information system developed in the project.
How can we find ideas for next steps with existing networks, initiatives, and projects? There are many activities going on and suggestions being brought to the table. Whatever might be good for one entity might not be good for the other, hence discussions which are necessary to find compromises. The European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (Textile ETP), is active in promoting the bio-circular industry transition and they’re providing their members with networking activities and capacity building activities. It’s industry driven so there’s many people who are suggesting their ideas and providing solutions and who’re often open for exploring collaborations.
Read more about what the CRUK annual conference unveiled next month, with more discussions and topics towards minimising environmental impact, including panel discussions and the CRUK sustainability awards ceremony, acknowledging the achievements of members who are already making changes and steps forward.
