Coventry-based events carpeting contractor Reeds Carpeting has launched the UK's first specialised carpet recycling plant.
The plant, which will be operated under a new company Reeds Carpet Recycling, uses a innovative system that can turn resin-backed cord into polypropylene products such as flower pots and roller-paint trays.
The plant, which cost several hundred thousand pounds to develop, is the result of a three-year research project between the company and Warwick University's Polymer Cluster Project.
Clare Reed, development director of Reeds Carpet Recycling said: "At the outset we will be taking the waste carpet that Reeds creates as the largest independent carpet contractor in the UK - that's about 850 tonnes."
The new plant, at Deppers Bridge just off junction 12 of the M40 motorway, should soon be able to cope with much of the industry's total waste output, around 12 million square metres, Ms Reed added.
The decision to develop the new plant was sparked by the rising costs of disposing waste in landfill and changed in environmental laws.
"At present recycling costs about double the rate charged for landfill, but over coming years those figures will get closer and closer," Ms Reed said.
