I’ve been asked by Mike Rigby in the last few days to put my support behind the new initiative by Martin Randall, of Crystal Direct:
I’ve had a good look over the website, and feel confident that I should put my name to this campaign. I’m aware that it may have ruffled feathers at the BPF, but I tend to think that action is required no matter which organisation pushing the agenda.
What is needed is a change in the mindset of the industry towards recycling old uPVC windows.
So, these initiatives have inspired me to take more action.
Conservatory Outlet currently sends all it’s uPVC offcuts for recycling - and I’m sure most other uPVC window fabricators do the same, as we get paid for it. But we have not been encouraging the recycling of first generation uPVC frames our installers have been replacing. My guess is that most fabricators are the same as us and only currently recycle offcuts from manufacture.
This morning I have rung most of my main trade customers and all of them currently throw the old frames into skips - with the destination likely to be landfill. I have asked whether they would be happy if, when we deliver new uPVC frames to them, they would be happy for us to collect any scrap frames they have brought back from houses, or remakes and mismeasures etc. All of my customers were very keen for us to do this, obviously, as it will cost them less in disposal.
So, I’ve set up a couple of meetings next week with uPVC recycling companies to discuss the logistics. I’ll keep you informed of my progress, as my hope is that other fabricators and installers follow the lead of PVC Aware and Fighting Back With Facts.
As an industry we need to act ‘green’, not just talk ‘green’.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Barry // Jul 23, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Well done Matthew - correct, As an industry we need to act ‘green’, not just talk ‘green’.
Barry
2 John Mills // Jul 28, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Interesting concept, rather than throwing out things you have no further need for you are going to recycle them. Surely that’s common sense especially as you have said you get paid to do so.
I followed your links to the PCAware and the Fighting Back sites. Have you noticed they say nothing about anything? Is the best thing anything any one can say is PVC can be recycled, and that is the unique selling point. To get the message over they have a collective of suppliers?
One thing that is clear from these sites it they are completely focused on building up their email databases. As with all things Internet, as your other contributor Barry knows well, it works on the basis of all things being reciprocal. If you are pushing contacts to these sites hopefully they are doing similar and are supplying copies of the email addresses they gather.
3 Renegade Conservatory Guy // Jul 28, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Hi John
We get paid for offcuts, but not scrap uPVC frames currently.
I’m not entirely sure what you are trying to say, but if you are suggesting it is the industry’s moral obligation to recycle then I entirely agree.
As for your comment about gathering email addresses. I just write about what interests me, and never even considered I might be passed email addresses from one of my competitors!
RCG
4 John Mills // Jul 28, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Hi Renegade Conservatory Guy
That’s the point; you are feeding your competition with email addresses of your contacts. Looking at your site it is east to see you have raised your traffic by your own hard work, contacts and activities. These other sites are lacking in content and depth, the appearance they give is that they have been set up collect email addresses for commercial gain.
Your web site is better than that, it’s going somewhere and has interest. These other guys are just cynics. That’s all I was trying to say.
Do you believe that the only propose of PVC as a framing material was for it to be recycled? If it was sold for its longevity, the fact that it wasn’t bio-degradable, it won’t rot, and it’s meant to last the life time of your home. Surely then the part it has to play in reducing global warming is greater than if it continually needs recycling.
5 John Mills // Jul 28, 2008 at 10:03 pm
excuse the obvious typos
6 Renegade Conservatory Guy // Jul 29, 2008 at 7:13 am
Hi John
Thank you for the positive comments - I do have a few regulars to the site now.
I hadn’t really thought of these other sites in this way - I try to look on the bright side. I just feel if people talk about recycling regularly then hopefully some of it rubs off on others.
You point out a major dilemma for our industry - if we encourage people to not bother replacing the first generation uPVC windows - the industry gradually dies.
How do you weigh up the environmental impact of producing new windows, and the energy and resources used, compared to the benefit achieved by replacing older PVCu frames with more energy efficient ones?
RCG
7 Recycling uPVC frames // Aug 5, 2008 at 9:58 am
[…] month I discussed the new intitiatives PVCAware and Fighting Back with Facts, and it spurred me on to look at the whole recycling […]
8 Chris // Sep 9, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Why dont you people get a life, shut up shop and accept that wood is the true material for all houses? Manufacturers of alternatives to upvc are not spreading lies about it, but truth……upvc is toxic, unsustainable (wait till oil runs out) and can never match the lifespan of wood.
You can’t recycle plastic as anything very useful….certainly not as another window. By pretending that you are being “green”, you hope to con the remaining 15% of home-owners like me into replacing their windows. Forget it. Mine are period timber, and that’s the way they’ll stay!
9 Andrew // Sep 9, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Well Chris good for you, it’s the maintenance people don’t like about wood, the thing about us PVC boys is we can see the beauty of both products, it’s just unfortunate that there’s not many people out there that can afford a good quality timber window.
I’ve sometimes stressed to certain customers that they may spoil the look of their property by fitting PVCu windows, but they just don’t want the hassle of wood.
There will always be a market for both products, and if you want to sand down and paint your windows every so often, then whoopie!
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