If you’re set to have brand new flooring in your home or workplace, you might be wondering whether your old flooring can be recycled.
Recycling is something that a lot of people are keen to take part in, and it’s certainly something that we care about at Best at Flooring.
So, with this in mind, find out whether your old flooring can be recycled below:
Can solid and engineered wood flooring be recycled or reused?
As you probably already know, solid woods can last hundreds of years, and engineered floors are designed to last decades.
When it comes to engineered flooring, thanks to the click joining method, floors can be easily lifted without causing damage to individual planks.
Thanks to this, many engineered floors that have lived happy and normal lives can be sent for refurbishment and reused in other homes or workspaces.
You can look to pass your used flooring using websites such as Freecycle and Freegle.
Solid wood floors can also be sent for recycling and refurbishment.
Can carpet tiles be recycled?
Approximately 25 million square metres of carpet tiles are removed from offices and publics spaces across Europe every year.
Unfortunately, the majority of tiles end up in landfills, with only a very small percentage finding their way to recycling centres and plants.
The truth, as you might have guessed, is that carpet tiles can indeed be recycled and reused.
Carpet tiles with a durable nylon are ideal for refurbishment and they are recycled by mechanically separating nylon fibres from their bitumen backing.
Once complete, the nylon fibre can be recycled back into yarns and used in brand new carpets.
Carpet tiles with polypropylene face fibre and polypropylene backing can also be shredded, granulated, and turned into pellets, which can then be moulded into plant pots or buckets.
Can laminate flooring be recycled?
Thanks to new technologies within manufacturing processes, up to 85% of laminate flooring can now be recycled.
Although you can’t just dump your old laminate flooring into your wheelie bin, you can check with manufacturers for the best course of action that you can take.
Whatever you do, even though laminate flooring consists of quite a lot of wood, it cannot be burnt or incinerated like normal wood.
This is due to the fact that the top layer of the product contains a chemical coating which can be dangerous to people if they were to breathe it in from being burnt.
Like engineered flooring, you can always look at upcycling your old laminate flooring so that it can be used by other families.
Can rugs be recycled?
Although not exactly a floor, you’ll be glad to know that if you’re looking at getting rid of an old rug, these too can be recycled and saved for other purposes.
This is because rugs are made from a variety of materials such as polypropylene, nylon, and wool.
There are a range of recycling centres throughout the UK that specialise in carpets and rugs, and this article by RecycleNow describes a range of alternatives for recycling rugs.
