Newton's award-winning Membrane Recycling Service is the first and only entirely closed-loop recycling scheme in the UK waterproofing industry, run in collaboration between Newton Waterproofing Systems and Newton Specialist Basement Contractors in order to actively collect and recycle waste High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) waterproofing membrane from across the UK for reuse in the construction industry. 

The scheme has been in action for over 2 years, since its launch in March 2017. Everyone at Newton is very proud of its recycling service as it directly tackles an inherent problem in the waterproofing industry that no other supplier has yet managed. High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is used to manufacture one of the primary forms of below-ground structural waterproofing - cavity drain membranes. Despite the fact that virgin HDPE is perfect for recycling, thousands of tonnes of membrane offcuts end up in landfill as they are too small for reuse in waterproofing. 

Award-winning initiative

Recently, Newton Waterproofing Systems were very honoured to take home the prestigious 'Innovation of the Year' accolade in recognition of the Membrane Recycling Service from the National Building Awards.

Previous award wins and nominations in recognition of the Membrane Recycling Service include:

  • Winners of the ‘Sustainability Award’ at the Property Care Association Best Practice Awards
  • Winners of the ‘Commitment to the Environment’ at the Kent Excellence in Business Awards
  • Finalist for the ‘Commercial Waste Reduction Initiative Award' at the 2018 National Recycling Awards.

The service is also shortlisted for ‘Best Innovation’ at the Construction News Awards on 11th July 2019.

2019 so far

Last year, the Membrane Recycling Service recycled a total of 5.275 tonnes of waste HDPE membrane. Now in 2019, Newton has succeeded in recycling 2,148 tonnes so far!

With 7 more months of the year to go, the team at Newton is confident that it will be able to prevent over 5 tonnes of virgin HDPE membrane from going to landfill this year.

To translate this into more quantifiable numbers, that’s 9,646.85 kWH of energy saved so far in 2019, which is enough energy to make 342,999 mugs of tea!

Everyone at Newton Waterproofing Systems is excited to see the continued progress of the Membrane Recycling Scheme and they hope to continually find ways to lower their carbon footprint and decrease their impact on the environment.