Veka invest in recycling plant in the UK

John Warburton, Marketing and Strategic Development Manager at VEKA Plc dispels the popular misconception that PVCu windows cannot be recycled.

There is a popular misconception that PVCu windows cannot be recycled, nothing could be further from the truth.

Veka AG invested in a purpose built recycling plant 14 years ago to deal with offcuts and more importantly, post consumer windows.

This recycling initiative has grown to the extent that Veka has founded a plant in the UK this year.

Old windows are fed into the recycling plant where metals, glass etc is automatically separated.

The PVCu is then colour separated and the white material then cleaned and colour matched to go back into new window profiles without any loss of quality or physical performance.

This process can be conducted many times meaning that the PVCu can stay in the closed loop for centuries.

There are no windows currently being produced from 100% recycled material for a couple of reasons.

Firstly there is not enough old PVCu windows being de-installed to yield recyclate in enough quantity.

Secondly the European Norm, EN 12608 does not allow recycled material on the face surfaces of profiles.

Most of the recycled material is therefore co-extruded into the core of window profiles.

The Veka AG plant in Behringen, Germany is capable of processing 50,000 tonnes of waste per year.

It is fed by plants in UK and France which process up to a certain point ready for final processing in Behringen.

Further plants will be founded in Eastern Europe when those markets reach the maturity of the Western Markets.

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