Homeowners in a recent survey have shown a ‘damning indictment’ of the message of PVC-U recycling after they polled the material as the least recyclable of all common window types – and admitted that a massive majority (86%) didn’t even know that they could be – and were being – recycled.
Even more alarmingly, they put wood at the top of the list, with more than a third (37%) saying it was the most recyclable, followed by aluminium at 32%, and PVC-U only 10%.
Respondents in the study, conducted by YouGov for Deceuninck, gave PVC-U little more credibility on the question of sustainability, where window and door frames manufactured in wood polled 46% of the ‘popular vote’. This was, however, at the expense of aluminium, which was seen as less energy efficient by respondents, and as most sustainable by only 12% of those polled. PVC-U was also cited by 12% of those surveyed.
“It’s a pretty damning indictment”, said Deceuninck MD Rob McGlennon, “In a commercial environment where product sustainability is increasingly important, we clearly have work to do. The message isn’t getting across to the end-user, despite the efforts we’re making as an industry to recycle more.
“That’s got to change and for those companies who drive it, there are going to be some great opportunities ahead. For those who don’t, well I’m afraid they’re going to miss out.”
Deceuninck has invested more the €15million in support of PVC-U recycling, with the capability to reprocess up to 45,000 tonnes of post-consumer and post-manufacturing PVC-U per year – the equivalent of preventing three million windows from going to landfill annually.
Use of recycled material also delivers a reduction in CO2 emissions of 90,000 tonnes compared to virgin feedstocks as well as a 90% energy saving.
PVC-U is also highly recyclable building material with a BRE recognised Reference Service Life of at least 35-years and that PVC-U can be recycled up to 10 times without impacting on performance.
Rob concluded: “These are some pretty powerful messages. Communicating the process that goes into the manufacture of product containing recycled material is a great way of showing end users just how technically advanced PVC-U systems are, and to upsell our offer alongside other innovations including colour and energy efficiency.”
