Recycling your old window frames

As a private limited company we have two options. We can sit back, ignore the media and go about our business with an attitude that leans towards looking after ourselves. This invariably means we look to the cheapest solution for getting rid of our waste.

However, it is our belief that we should become market leaders in the way we operate, especially with regards to our waste management.

Within the fenestration industry there are 7 million window frames that are replaced each year, 80% of these are uPVC window frames. This is a material that is perceived as non-recyclable. Due to this lack of understanding the vast majority of these window frames are discarded once removed and find their way to landfill, contributing to the overall amount of waste produced by the construction sector.

There is a big misconception however, that PVC-U like many other plastics is non-recyclable. This is incorrect, it’s actually a construction material that can have its lifespan significantly extended to help reduce waste. PVC actually gets stronger for the first 4 to 5 times it is recycled and at this point it can be up to 6% stronger. The fact that it is stronger once it’s recycled gives an opportunity for it to be used in the manufacture of other PVC-U products. In fact, every PVC-U product can be recycled up to 10 times and if you take a window frame as having a lifespan of 35 years this means that PVC-U lifespan can be extended from 35 to 350 years.

Once we understood these figures it was clear that recycling old post consumer PVC-U frames is something that we simply have to do. So once the decision was made we had to then ask ourselves how do we make sure that the window frames we are sending away will actually get recycled?

This is where we looked to the fenestration industry in general for help. One company that stood out in our search was Ecoplas. We can be confident, and also prove that the post consumer PVC-U window frames that we remove from your property will be disposed of in the following way;

‘Ecoplas collect and reprocess old window frames that may otherwise go to landfill, converting them to reusable material which can be used as a raw material in the manufacture of new building products’ source www.ecoplas.co.uk (opens new window)

‘Ecoplas is a registered waste carrier and each supplier is provided with the correct legal documentation ensuring they are fully compliant with the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulation 1991. Our systems provide evidence of full traceability of materials from collection at source through to the production process to delivery to the customer, so that suppliers can be sure that all of their waste is recycled to it's full potential’ source www.ecoplas.co.uk (opens new window)