Web Processing develops hot-melt carpet-backing machine

The Hot-Melt Carpet-Backing Machine applies a thermoplastic adhesive that replaces traditional difficult-to-recycle carpet-backing materials such as latex, polyvinyl chloride and bitumen. According to the company, carpet backed with the adhesive may be recycled at more than 90 percent of industrial and household recycling plants.

"Our Hot-Melt Carpet-Backing Machine has been developed in close collaboration with carpet manufacturers and adhesive suppliers and is being heralded as a major step forward in the campaign to make the flooring market more ecologically-sustainable by creating products that are completely recyclable," said Roy Conway, technical manager, Web Processing.

"We have invested over a decade of experience in carpet manufacturing to engineer a machine that surpasses previous green credentials for the industry."

The machine is the first of its kind, Web Processing reports, to combine coating and tuft-locking processes to fix fibers securely, resulting in a 50-percent reduction in production time; and can handle up to 10 meters of carpet per minute, compared to conventional machines that handle 4 to 5 meters of carpet per minute.

Its compact design and 20-meter production line for continuous running requires much less space than typical 100-meter conventional machines; and it requires less than 50 percent of the energy used to power conventional machines, and produces minimal emissions and no atmospheric pollution.

According to Laurance Bird, director of Carpet Recycling, United Kingdom, 400,000 tons of carpet waste is sent to United Kingdom landfills annually, "causing a huge and unsustainable burden that the industry urgently needs to address. Web Processing's work to create a cost and energy-efficient alternative is great news that is being welcomed by manufacturers and environmental campaigners alike," he said. 

Web Processing (M/C) Ltd