A North East flooring company is aiming to help the fight against plastic pollution by launching a new product made almost entirely from plastic bottles.
County Durham’s Connection Flooring is selling a carpet underlay under its Flooring Superstore brand which contains fibres from 500ml plastic bottles.
Called Ocean 10mm, the range supports marine conservation by preventing waste plastic ending up in landfill or the oceans. A typical roll of the underlay is made using 180 bottles, with 85% of the product being manufactured from recycled material.
The product’s launch coincides with the Shildon company announcing that 99% of the waste it produces is now diverted from landfill following a drive to increase recycling at its offices, warehouses and stores across the UK.
The company has employed a full-time waste management officer and has reduced its waste costs by more than 80%.
Connection Flooring managing director Dan Foskett said: “As a company employing over 150 people, we are very conscious about the need to reduce our carbon footprint and have been working hard to increase recycling and introduce more environmentally-friendly products.
“All our wood flooring, for example, is sourced using sustainable forests so for every tree chopped down to make our products, a new one is grown too.
“The introduction of our new Ocean 10mm range represents another contribution by Connection Flooring towards protecting the plant. Aside from being a high-quality product, by using something made from plastic bottles, it prevents even more waste plastic reaching our oceans and landfill.
“And the added bonus is at the end of its lifecycle, the underlay is 100% recyclable.”
Connection Flooring started life as an online retailer but over the last few years has opened 15 bricks and mortar stores, from Edinburgh in the north to Havant and Newton Abbot in the south. A 16th store will open in Stockport this weekend.
The stores sell carpets and a range of other flooring, such as laminate, vinyl tiles and artificial grass.
