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Corporate member wins recycling award for third time
Corporate member Designer Contracts has been named ‘Take Back Partner of the Year’ by Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK) for the third time at the annual awards and conference held at Aston Villa Football Club.
Graham Kempton, Designer Contracts’ logistics director was also honoured with Highly Commended in the ‘Recycling Champion of the Year’ category, for an individual who has gone the extra mile to ensure as much carpet as possible is recycled at their organisation.
Laurance Bird, director of Carpet Recycling UK said: “We are really pleased with all the hard work Designer Contracts has put into its recycling scheme and the results speak for themselves. The awards are much deserved.”
The company initially trialled a recycling scheme, spearheaded by Louise Abbott, Designer Contracts’ merchandise and marketing manager, in conjunction with CRUK, at its central region based in Chesterfield before rolling it out to all 12 of Designer Contracts’ regional offices.
The scheme works by diverting 90% of its fitters’ unfitted carpet into felt underlay. What isn’t turned into underlay is used in the equestrian sector for arena flooring. This innovative scheme saves a staggering 250 tonnes of waste going to landfill every year.
Louise said: “We’re delighted to have been recognised, once again, for our recycling scheme and were pitted against some tough competition. We’re helping the environment by transforming our waste into a sustainable solution and from the customers’ point of view, dealing with a contractor or manufacturer that recycles materials is increasingly beneficial.”
Fitters are supplied with a builder’s bag to fill with unfitted carpet to drop off at their nearest Designer Contracts regional depot. It is then taken to an approved recycling facility before being transformed into felt underlay. Any waste created is removed from site and recycled wherever possible. Designer Contracts does not use customers’ skips.
The programme not only includes flooring. The company has recently invested £40,000 in a baling machine that helps to recycle 70 tonnes of cardboard and 20 tonnes of plastic every year.
At the company’s national distribution facility in Kettering, which holds £2m worth of stock, it uses a computerised planning system to ensure maximum efficiency and reduce waste.
Designer Contracts also closely monitors all its central transport fleet to ensure that every vehicle is driven in a manner that minimises fuel consumption and emissions and has attained Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) accreditation.
It champions backload transport in all aspects of its business, including collection of stock from manufacturers on return journeys following deliveries to its own regional centres, and getting its recycling waste to the processing plant.
For more information on how Designer Contracts cares for the environment go to: