Midlands firm invents a world first in sustainable resin flooring Leicestershire-based Abacus Flooring Solutions has made history by inventing a way to use waste plastic, that would otherwise go to landfill, in industrial resin flooring.
The ground-breaking invention, named Abaplas, is set to transform the flooring industry as well as providing an eco-friendly method for replacing harmful bulking materials in other products such as tile adhesives. Nick Megson, managing director of Abacus Flooring and the brains behind the pioneering Abaplas system, has already proven his idea after carrying out a painstaking series of tests over several years. Having arrived at the perfect formula, which performs even better than traditional resin flooring, his world-beating patent for Abaplas has now been approved. Resin flooring, along with many other industrial products, has traditionally been manufactured using silica sand, which is a dangerous and potentially carcinogenic substance when inhaled. Abaplas instead contains non-harmful recycled plastic which is ground down to a white powder. The process will vastly reduce the volume of waste plastic ending up in landfill or the world’s oceans.
Nick said: “We carried out so many tests that it seemed as if it would never happen. We conducted tests using numerous grades and types of plastic before we finally achieved the fantastic result we have today. “On our first ever project using this product, the installation guys said it was the best self-smoothing resin system they had used. “Further research uncovered many other uses for our 100 per cent recycled plastic, in things like our primer coats, scratch coats, self-smoothing screeds, repair compounds – and even things like tile adhesives. “It could turn the plastics recycling industry completely on its head and really make major strides in helping to save the planet.” The world’s first resin flooring using 100 per cent recycled plastic was installed by Abacus in the enormous VIP Visitor Centre auditorium at JCB’s global headquarters in Staffordshire, UK.
The company has since gone on to install Abaplas flooring in warehouses, medical facilities and football stadiums throughout the UK. Nick has established a new firm, Abaplas Recycling Limited, to handle all the plastic recycling for Abacus as well as beginning the sales of treated plastic for use by other product manufacturers. Abaplas has already led to Abacus winning a number of awards, including a Green World Award – a global environmental campaign that rewards the world’s greenest countries, communities and companies. With more than three decades of experience working with resin flooring, Nick has been the industry’s ambassador for sustainability and recycling since 2005. Abacus is also a member of the Resin Flooring Association (FeFRA), of which Nick sits on the board of directors to help maintain industry standards. He founded Abacus Flooring Solutions with his wife Amanda during lockdown three years ago. The company now turns over more than £1m per year and manages an ever-expanding order book at its manufacturing headquarters in Coalville, Leicestershire.
For more information, visit www.abacusflooringsolutions.co.uk.
