PVC | INNOVATION
of PVC window recycling and reuse projects. With 36,000 inhabitants, Langen is located to the south of Frankfurt am Main. A prominent tower block, where modernisation began in 2016, is located north of the town centre. A refurbishment of building number 35 with its 105 residential units involved work on the building, sanitary facilities and improvements in fire protection, as well as the building’s envelope. The aim was to reduce demand for primary energy by approximately 80%. The Langen eG construction cooperative, owner of the 15-storey building complex erected in 1973, invested €9.7m in the project. The project was not only significant in terms of high future energy standards, but the developer also extended its environmental and sustainability objectives to include the construction waste from the modernisation process. Six hundred used PVC windows were mechanically recycled and reused by construction company Löwe during the refur- bishment works on the windows and facades. The decision was made to have the used PVC windows mechanically recycled with the aid of the nation- wide collection and reuse system of Rewindo and its recycling partner Veka Umwelttechnik. Veka Recycling is a winner in the 2019 National
Fenestration Awards in the UK. The company is responsible for processing end-of-life PVC-U windows and virgin offcuts back into raw materials ready for manufacture. Veka Recycling Managing Director Simon Scholes says the operation is not only for Veka customers, but for all brands of PVC-U systems. Last year, the company opened a new 5.7-acre site in Wellingborough, with invest- ment of more than £8m and a capacity to recycle
25,000 tonnes of PVC-U per year. The company adds that ongoing investment and development means the plant has the potential to become Europe’s most technically advanced specialist window recycling facility. The Wellingborough plant is the third to be built by Veka Umwelttechnik, the specialist recycling subsidiary of the global Veka Group. The combined capacity of the three plants is set to exceed 100,000 tonnes of PVC-U windows a year. Eurocell, the UK manufacturer, distributor and
recycler of PVC-U window, door, conservatory and roofline systems, is rebranding its Ecoplas recycling business to bring it into the Eurocell Recycle stable. Ecoplas, formerly the largest independent PVC-U recycler in the country, was acquired by Eurocell in August 2018. With its recycling processes and a nationwide network of collection points at which traders can deposit their PVC-U waste, it has contributed significantly to the 3.6 million frames
Above: Window profiles are a major source of material for PVC recycling
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PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
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