Forbo Flooring has expanded its Back to the Floor recycling scheme in Ireland following its first successful take back of waste flooring products in the country.
Several tonnes of marmoleum and project vinyl off-cuts were collected from St Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny City and sent back to Forbo Flooring in the UK for recycling back into new flooring products.
Midland Tile Merchants installed 5,500 m² of flooring at a new extension to the existing 1940’s hospital over a period of 10 months. The waste off-cuts were stored in bulk bags at the tile merchants’ large warehouse before being sent back to the UK on organised vanloads.
The hospital provides acute healthcare services to the people of Carlow and Kilkenny. The €25million extension includes new A&E, Oncology and Hepatology facilities, plus a Day Services Unit and associated offices. It was completed in early 2015.
Recycling waste materials where possible was part of the flooring contract specification, as Declan Lough, Director at Midland Tile Merchants, explained, “Details about Back to the Floor in a Forbo mailshot caught my attention as we were negotiating the hospital contract.
“We had to make sure recycling could happen, so it all fell into place. The timing was perfect and we became the first company in Ireland to sign up to the scheme.”
Fitters and cleaners working on the project were given colour-coded polythene bags and instructed on where to place the off-cuts correctly.
“It took some organisation and education to make sure the right off-cuts were in the right bags,” said Declan, “but we’ve proved it can work.”
Recycling the off-cuts, versus sending them to landfill at €350 per tonne, has, he says, ‘delivered a clear saving on disposal costs’.
“We will continue to use Back to the Floor,” adds Declan. “Environmental awareness is growing and people are encouraged to recycle more. Time will tell, but I think that being an accredited Back to the Floor collector will help our business in the future.”
For Paul Carney, Managing Director of Forbo Flooring Ireland, getting the scheme underway was a priority on receiving Midland Tile Merchants’ enquiry.
“We were delighted when they joined the scheme. As their experience demonstrates, collectors can make valuable savings on disposal costs and the materials can be readily recycled back into new products. It’s a great environmental story and one which we hope will inspire others here to come on board,” he added.
Back to the Floor Scheme Co-ordinator, Michelle Brewer, said five bulk bags of marmoleum off-cuts and one bulk bag of project vinyl were collected from Midland Tile Merchants in February.
“We’re delighted to welcome them on board and hope their success story will encourage even more flooring professionals in Ireland to join Back to the Floor,” she said.
Elsewhere in Ireland, customers can drop off marmoleum off-cuts free of charge at Contract Flooring Supplies in Dublin. Direct collections from contractors’ premises can also be arranged for larger volumes of flooring off-cuts.
Forbo off-cuts, as well as project vinyl flooring off-cuts from most manufacturers, are recycled back into new flooring products across the company’s portfolio.
The scheme offers both environmental and economic benefits for participants through diversion of waste material from landfill and preservation of raw material resources for use in new products.
For more information, call 0161 925 8760 or e-mail backtothefloor@forbo.com. Alternatively, you can contact Paul Carney on 01 289 8898 or e-mail info@forbo-flooring.ie
