Mentioning the word Eco to most people and you are likely to find their ears pricking. Eco products and the depleting of the worlds resources are hot topics at the moment.
When planning home improvements, selecting Eco products has always been at huge expense in the past. PVC-U windows may have been a poor environmental choice, the same with guttering and fascias but is this still the case? At Trade Skills 4U we wonder how many construction industry workers such as electricians, double glaziers, plumbers and builders are aware of Recovinyl?
Recovinyl is an initiative of the European PVC industry. Set up in 2003, as the Vinyl 2010 Voluntary Commitment, its aim is to stimulate and encourage the use of recycled PVC. Vinyl 2010 was a huge success with Europe now recycling over 240,000 tonnes of PVC every year.
In 2011, Recovinyl became Recovinyl Plus and redefined its role to ensure that not only is more PVC recycled each year, but also a new focus initiated to build relationships between the recyclers and converters to ensure that products made using the recyclate will serve an Eco friendly market. A certification scheme was launched which reassures customers that the Eco friendly product they are buying contains the right amount of recyclate.
Converters who are part of the Recovinyl Plus scheme will carry a unique ID number on their products where customers can find out the percentage of recyclate used in the product and what sources were used.
To date, in excess of 48,000 tonnes of PVC-U has been recycled in the UK including over 1 million window frames. This has been made into cladding, roof line products and doors.
Is Recrovinyl more than just PVC?
Following on from the huge success of PVC recycling, the great news is that other regulated waste streams will now be included in the scheme. Products from the automotive, electric and electronic plus their packaging are all included. This is a great idea and is encouraging demand for recycled goods within the construction industry which in turn feeds the growing customer demand for Eco friendly goods which won't cost the earth (quite literally!)
This is great news for parts of the construction industry who have already made huge progress by effectively dealing with PVC-U waste. It is now a chance for the whole construction industry to become involved by creating a more sustainable environment and potentially seeing all products partly or wholly made from recycled materials.
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