Recycling

Effective PVCu window recycling

Our South Wales factory is also home to our state-of-the-art recycling facility. The capacity to recycle and reuse old PVCu window frames helps to reduce the environmental impact of window manufacturing, lowering the waste disposed of at landfill sites and improving sustainability. All the recycled PVCu that we process is used to manufacture our ECOSlide sash windows. This helps to create a closed-loop process that boosts green credentials and helps to develop a more sustainable future for the glazing industry.

How do we do it?

We meet the challenges of the 21st century head on in our very own in-house, purpose-built recycling facility at our Head Office and manufacturing base in Ammanford, West Wales.

Victorian Sliders lead the way in recycling both our own waste PVCu, and that of our commercial partners. “Responsible PVCu Recycling” and a “Sustainable Approach” are not just buzz words in our business, they are the lifeblood of our products and our future.

Why Does Recycling Matter?

PVCu is a versatile material commonly used in windows and doors. Responsible recycling of PVCu is crucial for several reasons:

• Resource Conservation: By recycling PVCu, we reduce the demand for virgin raw materials. Each recycled window contributes to preserving our planet’s precious resources.
• Energy Efficiency: The recycling process consumes significantly less energy compared to producing new PVCu. Energy savings benefit both the environment and our economy.

• Waste Reduction: Responsible recycling diverts PVCu away from landfills, preventing harmful leaching and minimizing environmental impact. The WWF have conducted case studies that have concluded that an estimated 83% of waste PVCu ends up in landfill.
• Processed correctly: PVCu can be recycled up to 10 times equating to a 350-year lifespan.

With PVCu dominating the window market share, 85% of old windows are being replaced by PVCu as opposed to timber, steel or aluminium.

Process overview.

We strictly segregate white offcuts from our PVCu extrusion line. These offcuts are inspected prior to being fed into our state of the art granulator, which grinds the PVCu into 2-5mm granules. Following this the granules go through a dust extractor and pass by a high power permanent magnet to ensure the finished product contains no metallic particles.

In addition to our own extrusion offcuts, we recycle our partners windows. This involves ensuring all material types are segregated to prevent contamination. We remove any old furniture, hardware, reinforcing and glass, from the pre used windows. Once the product has been granulated it is then used for the thermal reinforcing for our sash windows.