The PVC industry in the UK recycled some 25,480 t of used windows and profiles in 2011, according to audited figures published by the European recycling scheme Recovinyl (Brussels / Belgium; www.recovinyl.com). This represented 52% of the total 48,544 t of waste PVC recycled in 2011. An unquantified volume of recyclate was converted into second life products for long-term use in the construction industry, including new windows. Verified figures for 2012 are due to be published in April.

Recovinyl estimates that the windows and profiles fraction would roughly equate to 1.25m frames or enough replacement windows for around 122,000 houses and flats. “These figures clearly demonstrate the sustainability credentials of PVC as a building material,” said Axion Consulting (www.axionconsulting.co.uk), Recovinyl’s UK agent. “Thanks to the real efforts being made to collect these waste frames and the infrastructure now in place to recycle them, waste PVC-U can be diverted from landfill,” it added.

Philip Law, public and industrial affairs director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF, London / UK; www.bpf.co.uk) called the numbers “truly outstanding considering the long-life of PVC windows, the rate at which they enter the waste stream and the flat market conditions in the construction sector.”

The Recovinyl scheme is also an initiative of VinylPlus, the 10-year voluntary commitment of the European PVC industry, which is tackling the sustainability challenges for PVC and delivery of fresh recycling targets to 2020. These targets include 800,000 t to be reused in all European countries by 2020 – with 700,000 t mechanically recycled and the rest using new technologies for more difficult-to-recycle or contaminated PVC.