How Melrose Interiors is bringing manufacturing jobs back to Bradford with its recycling business

A flooring and interiors supplier in Bradford is bringing manufacturing jobs back to the city with its new recycling division.

Melrose Interiors has three strands to its business. In addition to importing and supplying rugs to retailers it also provides logistics support and has a division called Relay.

Relay takes in old carpets and rugs and either upcycles or recycles them.

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Andy Murphy, managing director of Melrose Interiors, told The Yorkshire Post: “Relay is basically where we take in a carpet, we upcycle or recycle it and then relay it as a new product.”

Andy Murphy, managing director at Melrose Interiors.Andy Murphy, managing director at Melrose Interiors.
Andy Murphy, managing director at Melrose Interiors.

Previously the business only imported rugs but Relay has led to Melrose manufacturing its own.

The Bradford-based business has 50 employees of which about 12 are working on Relay and Mr Murphy sees that number growing.

“Over 400,000 tonnes of used carpet is thrown away each year here in the UK,” Mr Murphy said. “It’s a phenomenal amount and 70 per cent of that is incinerated.”

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The rationale behind setting up Relay is Melrose’s understanding of the flooring industry, the business having been established in 1968. Consumers are also more aware of the impact on the environment, Mr Murphy says.

Andy Murphy, managing director at Melrose Interiors.Andy Murphy, managing director at Melrose Interiors.
Andy Murphy, managing director at Melrose Interiors.

He added: “The next generation coming through is holding importers and manufacturers accountable for what they’re doing in terms of the environment and their sustainability policies.

“That’s not just the product, it’s also the packaging. I really want to address that in the early stages. Even some of our packaging is now made out of polyprop, which enables us to recycle it. That process can be repeated nine times so it’s meaningful.

“I’m very passionate about this and no-one seems to be doing it on a larger scale. There are some very good smaller businesses doing some great work. Particularly around carpet tile recycling but nothing mainstream.”

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Melrose also has its own logistics service, called Ping Logistics, that fulfills orders for its retail partners by delivering directly to the customer.

Mr Murphy believes this division is perfectly placed to help grow Relay by collecting old carpet from the homes of consumers. Melrose will be trialling carpet collection over the next autumn.

Mr Murphy said: “We can offer a great service to the customer because they’re not having to take a big 5m by 4m carpet to the tip. They can cut that up, put it in the special bags that we supply and we then collect it.

“The big benefit of that is it doesn’t get contaminated with other materials or become wet going through the standard waste refuse process through local authorities.”

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Growing the firm’s production facility in Bradford through Relay will mean that its reliance on imports is reduced.

However, Mr Murphy says he can’t see Melrose not importing in ten years’ time with business partnerships in countries such as Turkey key to the firm.

“There’s no doubt that we want to grow Relay’s production here in Yorkshire,” Mr Murphy added.

In March 2009, the business consolidated its two sites into one with a move to its current location at Park View Mills in Wibsey.

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“We’ve now 110,000 sq ft of factory and office,” Mr Murphy said. “This has now given us the ability to grow the three areas of the business.”

The whole purpose of the move is tied to Mr Murphy’s vision of the business going forward. He wants to ensure it is built on strong foundations having completed a management buyout in 2016. Mr Murphy says flexibility will be key and wants to ensure Melrose is not over-reliant in any one area.

From Saturday job to company boss

Andy Murphy started at Melrose Interiors in the early 1980s, working Saturdays and school holidays at the age of 14.

He left the company in 1990 to pursue his passion for rugby in Australia and New Zealand.

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He returned for a second stint a year later. At that point the business was employing 120 people but automation has made the Bradford-based firm’s work less labour intensive.

Mr Murphy would leave the business in 1995, which then sold cushions, rugs and towels.

In 2010, he made a return to Melrose as managing director with Bill Edgley looking to sell the business.

Mr Murphy completed a management buyout in 2016.