COP26 has been in the news a lot recently, but the focus of the media was not on the flooring!
When making arrangements for the 80,000sqm of flooring used at the COP26 UN Climate Change conference, MJ’s Event Services Ltd’s COO Jennifer Bishopp reached out quickly to engage with the Carpet Recycling UK network, to ensure that all the flooring could be reused or recycled.
Behind the scenes, there was a call to arms and a lot of communication between members has led to some great results including the donation of much needed carpets which will be sold at low cost within the Glasgow community. The aim was to find local outlets where possible, bearing the waste hierarchy in mind.
To ensure the carpet and underlay products are still in good condition when it comes to being uplifted, MJ’s and CRUK discussed the best way for the it to be laid to ensure it was not damaged at the time of uplifting. MJ’s collaborated with Spruce Carpets to influence the fitting process so that the flooring was not stuck down using any glues or adhesives. Instead, a tape was used which allowed for both materials to be easily uplifted and separated without causing damage.
Through Carpet Recycling UK, MJ’s liaised with several key members to save and repurpose the flooring.
Designer Contracts helped with the supply of carpet tubes, to facilitate the re-rolling of 50 rolls of broadloom carpet to Community Enterprise Spruce Carpets in Glasgow who offer an Affordable Floor Fitting scheme.
Capitalising on the offer of good quality carpets for its customers, Austin Hardie, Spruce’s CEO arranged additional temporary warehousing. “Working with our existing landlord at Kendall Properties we have been able to access additional warehousing space to enable us to process the 12,000sqm we secured from the COP26 site. This donation is probably the largest received since Spruce Carpets we were established in 2005.”
Once CRUK heard from MJ’s that the underlay product to be used was being manufactured by its member Interfloor, they contacted them. Interfloor subsequently changed the initial underlay product to a more sustainable one, which is fully recyclable after use.
“Interfloor were thrilled to be involved in the preparation of the COP26 climate summit by supplying 286 rolls of their eco-friendly renu® underlay to the venue and once the world leaders had left at the end of the conference, MJ’s arranged for it to be taken back for reprocessing at Interfloor’s Haslingden plant where it will become fresh renu® once more”, says Jon Cooper, CEO. Read their report here Interfloor’s Sustainable Credentials Recognised by COP26 | Interfloor
The remaining textile flooring, still clean but not suitable for reuse, was processed into quality surfacing for the equine sector.
Tarkett supplied approximately 1000sqm safety floor for the event, and it will be returned to Tarkett’s recycling facilities to make into new floors as part of their ReStart Programme.
On completion of the project, Jennifer Bishopp said “The repurposing and recycling of all the flooring products we supplied to COP26 has been a truly collaborative effort with CRUK and we are proud to have created a legacy from the project through our work with Spruce and all the CRUK members involved. “
Carpet Recycling UK was pleased to have been able to help with connections, contacts and networking to achieve these results and “it goes to show that we are the go-to organisation for the right advice and contacts when it comes to large commercial events,” said Adnan Zeb-Khan, Manager. “This was a lot of flooring, and we are really pleased that most of it will be used again.”
What is COP26?
Glasgow hosted COP26 which stands for the 26th “Conference of the Parties” and represents a gathering of all the countries signed on to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Climate Agreement.
This important event saw world leaders gather to discuss the ways in which we can prevent climate change.
The challenging targets set at the Paris agreement set back in 2015 are still a long way off, with targets of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, still an ever-challenging ambition. The primary way to combat this is to reduce global warming and the world needs to “half emissions over the next decade and reach net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century” if we are to get to the 1.5 degree target. The gathering at COP26 planned to face these issues head on.