A Rhondda-based flooring recycling company has reached out to flood victims offering to re-carpet their damaged homes free of charge.
Greenstream Flooring CIC in Rheola Industrial Estate, Porth, was formed 12 years ago as a social enterprise to divert waste carpet from landfill, supporting access to low-cost and free flooring while creating employment and volunteering opportunities.
When severe weather caused widespread flooding across south Wales in March 2020, Greenstream Flooring’s founder Ellen Petts pledged to help those who were in need.
With support funding from the Welsh Council of Voluntary Action (WCVA) and their own finances, the company worked with housing associations to launch a campaign direct to the public, offering to donate and fit replacement carpets.
“We wanted to reach out to supply carpets to those households that had been a victim of the extensive flooding,” Ellen explained.
“Unfortunately, our work was hindered because within a few weeks of the floods the Coronavirus lockdown began which meant we couldn’t gain access to the properties.
“Following any type of flooding you have to leave a property air and dry naturally but the extended lockdown period left families with cold and damp floors for longer than anyone anticipated.”
Greenstream Flooring offered free carpets to be fitted by their trained staff, all of whom, like all of their workforce is made up of individuals previously either long-term unemployed or ‘disadvantaged in the workplace’ in some other way.
“Upskilling our workforce is an important element of the company and we have been able to train staff to help them on a pathway to long term employment and even self-employment,” Ellen added.
With customers across south Wales, from Swansea to Blaenau Gwent, Greenstream provides a national service for the take-back of carpet tiles from various buildings, diverting them from landfill and then supplying and fitting them across community, housing and public sector buildings in South Wales.
