MAKE A PVC-U RECYCLING RESOLUTION FOR 2023

Stuart Stockley, MD of VEKA

Recycling, says embracing PVC-U recycling will bring just rewards at every link in the home improvement supply chain.

Traditionally, February is the month in which we reflect upon the abandoned resolutions that we may have earnestly embraced at the beginning of the year. But it’s not too late to create new resolutions for adopting PVC-U recycling, an activity that brings clear benefits at every level of the home improvement supply chain and which will be good for the environment too. There are benefits at every level…

Homeowners

Every household is compelled to recycle its household waste and as a matter of routine we separate packaging plastics, glass, cardboard and so forth, from non-recyclable waste and of course, food waste. And in our daily lives, we are increasingly subjected to messages about sustainability, including the recyclability as well as recycled content of a huge number of consumer products. Homeowners will appreciate knowing that their old plastic frames will be managed sustainably.

Retail Installers

Promoting PVC-U as a recyclable resource will not only reassure your customers that their old windows have value, but that their new PVC-U windows, if that is what they have chosen, are also sustainable. When price and product differentials have been exhausted, sales can be closed by promoting that a homeowner’s old PVC-U windows and doors will be removed and recycled, to begin a fresh journey as brandnew building materials, air conditioning components and increasingly, new window and door frames.

The financial benefits are tangible for installation businesses: disposal costs can be reduced significantly by returning old PVC-U window and door frames to any of the increasing numbers of frame fabricators that are setting up collection hubs for their installer customers. For larger volumes, arrangements may even be made directly with VEKA Recycling. It’s another problem solved for busy installers.

Window And Door Fabricators

The chances are that virgin profile offcuts resulting from the frame fabrication process will be collected, probably by the supplying systems company. But by offering installer customers a collection service for their old frames, or at least a hub with bins into which they may drop their post-consumer frames when they pick up the new ones, fabricators can extend their service offer to installers in a most tangible way.

VEKA Recycling has equipped fabricators all over the UK with specially designed bins for collecting PVC-U frames which we pick up regularly. In addition, we also have a network of specialist waste contractors, from where old frames are returned direct to our facility for processing. It’s a very efficient arrangement.

Brands And Operators You Can Trust

Installers and fabricators should be careful to use credible and authentic recycling companies, not only to collect old frames but also to process them. There are strict laws as well as moral codes that should not be broken when disposing of old frames and care should be taken to only use bona fide waste contractors, or wellknown brands that have established track records and legally approved audit trails. Waste that is dumped illegally can be traced back and may result in prosecution and perhaps even worse, public shaming for the installer, fabricator and even the homeowner, all of which will do immense damage to a brand.

Through dealing directly with an end-toend recycler such as VEKA Recycling you can be sure that post-consumer products are taking the most efficient route to repurposing. Homeowners, installers and fabricators can be confident that the products taken away for recycling will not have taken unnecessary journeys, handling, or processing before completing the chain of custody back into brand new products.

MORE INFORMATION?

VEKA Recycling pioneered PVC-U recycling with its first plant built in 1993 in Germany. In the UK, we process postconsumer frames and virgin material at Europe’s most advanced window and door frame recycling site in Wellingborough, where we guarantee that recycling standards and legal guidelines will be upheld at every stage.

We therefore have immense experience with which we can advise on how to begin your recycling journey or improve the one you are on. After 30 years of recycling PVC-U, we are as passionate as we have ever been. Get in touch!

https://veka-recycling.co.uk/