Sustainability Sells

Sustainability is undeniably a buzzword in the current socio-economic climate, but how much substance is behind the buzz? The answer is a lot, says VEKA Recycling’s Simon Scholes, who believes any installer not yet recycling their frames responsibly will soon have to face the music.

We each hold a slightly different view when it comes to sustainability. Some of us make daily purchasing decisions based on the credentials of different brands, while others are doing what they can, without making huge sacrifices. Whatever your position, there is no doubt that the awareness of sustainable business practices has never been higher. So, if there are any installation businesses out there that still think selling ‘A’ rated windows is enough to meet this demand for green, they’re sorely mistaken.

In the most recent Deloitte study into how consumers embrace sustainability, the percentage of people choosing brands committed to sustainable practices has risen by another 6% to 40%. While the number of consumers voting with their wallets when they had reason to question a company’s ethics or sustainability rose by 6% to 34%. In short, consumers are becoming increasingly likely to walk away if there is any doubt about a company’s commitment to sustainability or doubt about their ethics.

The facts speak for themselves, but why is an ‘A’ rated window no longer enough? And what does a sustainable installation business look like? Unfortunately, while ‘A’ ratings continue to be an absolute necessity, the conversation has moved on. If you have never been asked about your sustainability as a business, you will be. More installers, including the big retail names, are now pushing their green credentials regarding recyclability, so homeowners’ awareness is growing. If you don’t have a credible answer on this topic, homeowners will take their business to someone that does.

We’ve come a long way as an industry, with an estimated 80% of the old removed frames being recycled, a figure that we arrive at by comparing the new frames installed in existing dwellings. But that means 20%, perhaps as much as 20,000 tonnes a year, are unaccounted for. That’s a lot of PVC-U, potentially going into landfills or being incinerated. We’ve worked hard to fight our corner when it comes to the sustainability of PVC-U, but these arguments collapse in on themselves if we don’t close the loop between removing old windows and installing new ones. PVC-U is an extraordinary material if handled in the correct way.

Installation businesses need to do more than talk the talk when it comes to recycling their old frames. It would help if you had complete confidence in your recycling partner. VEKA Recycling built our first plant specifically to take old frames and break them down into re-usable component materials as far back as 1993. Our latest plant, the most advanced of its type in Europe, built in 2018, continues this tradition.

It’s actually a sight to behold in our new site in Wellingborough, with tonnes of frames coming to us every day, with the glass removed but inevitably complete with hardware, gaskets and reinforcement. These are then craned onto a conveyor to be crushed, pounded, shaken, sieved and blown about before ending up as steel, aluminium, rubber and PVC-U pellets, which are then ready to be melted, cast, extruded or moulded into brand new products, including new window and door profiles.

People don’t expect it from the plastics industry, but we have the means to lead the way in the conversation on sustainability. Most installers are now recycling old frames, but we need to catch that final 20% and of course, ensure that anyone using a recycling company is using a firm that recycles responsibly. Put it this way, when a homeowner inevitably asks you for your credentials, how confident are you that your answer will stand up to their scrutiny? If you’re not sure, now is the time to act, before it’s too late.