Almost 90% of UK homeowners don’t know PVC-U can be recycled
A new independent study commissioned by Deceuninck and conducted by YouGov, has found that 86% of UK homeowners didn’t know that PVC-U windows and doors can be – and are being – recycled.
“It’s a pretty damning indictment,” said Rob McGlennon, managing director, Deceuninck. “In a commercial environment where product sustainability is increasingly important, we clearly have work to do.”
To highlight the scale of the challenge for the PVC-U window industry, when asked which window and door frame material-type they believed was most recyclable, 37% of homeowners said wood; 32% chose aluminium; and only 10% chose PVC-U; the remainder not sure.
This directly impacted how sustainable each material was seen to be. This time 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 also cited by 12% of those surveyed.
Rob continued: “There is a challenge here. 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 in one of the world’s most advanced recycling and compounding facilities.
This gives it the capability to reprocess up to 45,000 tonnes of post-consumer and post-manufacturing PVC-U per year – the equivalent of preventing 3million windows from going to landfill annually.
Use of recycled material also delivering 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.
“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,” Rob concluded.