Marilynn and Ashley Haigh have been running Carpet Tile Recycling in Nottingham for more than 14 years and over that time they have enabled the diversion of over 1.5 million tiles from landfill into new and sometimes novel uses. They have previously won the Carpet Recycling UK reuse member of the year and been highly commended several times including in the latest awards which took place in 2020. Their team is expanding and recently, keeping it in the family, son Rob and daughter Rosie have joined them. Rob has come on board as a director to find new markets for sourcing and re-using carpet tiles and Rosie, although working from Canada, is responsible for setting up and starting to post to their social media platforms. New signage has been added outside at the warehouse, new logos created, and everyone is working hard developing a new website. The company is committed to spreading the word and highlighting the issue of wasting good re-usable flooring and the terrible impact sending it to landfill has on the environment.
They have some great reviews and testimonials from thrilled customers – just click either link button to have a quick look:
Marilynn told us: “We have managed to achieve a lot in spite of the Coronavirus pandemic. Although supplies of used carpet tiles have dried up over the lockdown periods, we have been able to stay open and supply all our online orders because we hold big stock volumes at our off-site storage facility. Being able to carry on has also meant that none of our staff have had to be furloughed, which has been a real relief. Initially, very early in the pandemic, we spent time assessing the building and working out ways we could still operate but keep everyone safe. We all met to talk together about how that could be done and whether it was best to carry on working in the circumstances. There was a unanimous vote to stay open and keep working. Our fiercely protected Covid secure environment means we take great care to check everyone before they come into the building and this has meant we’ve all kept well.”
Early in 2020, Carpet Tile Recycling picked up thousands of used Westbond tiles from an office refurbishment project in Birmingham and from the initial phone enquiry, it was a dream pick-up. The tiles were on pallets, they were clean, they were dry, all ready and on time.
Later that month, they were able to supply and fit 4,000 of them into a self-storage unit in Salisbury. The client was thrilled with the results and the price. As the job was finishing, the customer told Ashley: “I’m really pleased with how much I’ve saved on this job, it looks great and I’ll be back in touch when the upper floors need doing. Thanks again!” And as this story goes to press, those next floors are being arranged.
But not all recycling jobs go as smoothly. Sometimes, working with refurbishment or strip-out companies can be challenging and Carpet Recycling UK reuse members want these companies to take good care to protect the flooring and look after it, so it is possible to achieve the best reuse value. This always means making sure that the flooring is removed before the ceiling and other services are stripped out. In one case last year, Carpet Tile Recycling took in 3,000 tiles from a refurb project in Barnsley. “By the time the tiles arrived they had been badly damaged by the strip out, which was a real shame” Ashley says “After we’d removed the wet, cut or very stained ones, we were left with about 2,500 tiles, but they were so full of ‘ceiling dust’ we couldn’t offer them for sale. Rather than disposing of them though, one of our ‘pre-cast concrete’ customers agreed to use them in their factory for packaging.”
Finding new ways to re-use a product that no-one else wants is the key to unlocking the recycling dilemma, which can be rewarding and sometimes even amusing. One of their customers was trying to make ‘backstops’ for the new archers in their Archery Club and needed lots of carpet tiles to create them because most of their new members were terrible shots! They said the tiles could be offcuts, in any colour or quality, as long as they were wide enough to stack and also told Ashley that they’d need more tiles soon because the Club was getting bigger and more popular. What a great use of offcuts in grotty colours. See the ‘Archery Image’ which shows the end result.
In addition to the larger jobs, Carpet Tile Recycling offers a local “small job-lots service” and Marilynn says: “We are always pleased to make used tiles available to anyone from the surrounding area who finds themselves in need. Top quality re-used tiles in small lots that are not commercially viable can make a children’s bedroom really bright and trendy or a bare room a cosy and calm space for a family. There’s no means test – we just ask that they spread the word and tell everyone how lovely we are to deal with and because of that, we’ve had lots of orders from the local area, just because we’ve been mentioned in a conversation.”
This piece began with saying how committed everyone at Carpet Tile Recycling is about spreading the word and that is what everyone needs to do. We all need to keep talking and spreading the word, so that eventually it becomes top of mind to reuse or recycle old flooring. And that will benefit us all.
For more information
Read Carpet Recycling UK’s new Best Practice Guide for reuse and recycling of commercial flooring here