A commitment to recycling PVC-U by the VEKA Group that spans almost three decades , is epitomised by a photograph that captures a delivery of recycled PVC-U pellet by VEKA Recycling Ltd , to sister company , systems extruder VEKA PLC .

VEKA was the first major PVC-U window brand to realise the value and commit to the recycling of the material , which may be recycled and remanufactured into new products as many as 10 times , when it opened the first dedicated recycling facility in Behringen , Germany , in 1993 . The tanker deliveries of high-quality recycled pellet to VEKA PLC ’ s Burnley

plant , mark the latest phase of the Group ’ s commitment to the promotion of PVC-U as a sustainable material , with the completion of VEKA Recycling ’ s state-ofthe-art

facility in Wellingborough at the end of last year .

Deliveries by tanker allow 26 tonnes of high-grade PVC-U pellet

– enough to provide 75 % recycled content for 27500 metres of profile – to be transferred at each end of the journey in less than a couple of hours , with as many as three deliveries per week . The process is considerably quicker than the alternative delivery method of one tonne bags that are lifted on and off the delivery vehicle by forklift truck .

“ The completion of our Wellingborough plant enables us to supply our sister company in Burnley not simply due to the availability of high volumes of recycled material , but also because the quality satisfies VEKA PLC ’ s exacting standards for quality ,” explained VEKA Recycling ’ s Managing

Director Simon Scholes . “ Although we are both part of the VEKA dynasty , we have not been given the automatic right to supply Burnley . We had to demonstrate an ability to supply high volumes of the finest quality material , on a regular basis . There was never any question of a silver spoon ,” added Simon .

VEKA PLC MD Neil Evans said that the completion of the Wellingborough plant , followed by strenuous trials , enabled his company to honour its commitment to the inclusion of higher levels of recyclate in its products : “ This commitment is contained in our latest CSR [ Corporate Social Responsibility ] manifesto published in 2021 , which

details our commitment to sustainability in every aspect of our business . I am delighted that our sister company has been able to open as scheduled despite the difficulties of building the plant during the pandemic , and also that the quality and volumes are to our very exacting standards at Burnley .”

“ VEKA PLC has become an important customer , together with others with whom we have traded for many years . But it feels very special to see endof-life window and door profiles , being re-manufactured into new frames ,” added Simon .

www . veka-recycling . co . uk

The UK ’ s largest manufacturer of Screenline integral blinds will be recycling more post-consumer glass and supporting more local good causes than ever following the installation of new state of the art automated machinery to process waste glass collected from Uni-Blinds ® installers .

The new plant commissioned by Morley Glass at its HQ and factory near Leeds replaces its pioneering ‘ Crush ’ machinery , which has been retired after two reliable years of service . The new machine is designed to be smarter and more productive through automation , extracting a larger amount of annealed glass out of the frame .

This eliminates some of the more time consuming and labour-intensive

stages of the glass recycling process to enable larger volumes to be handled . Through a process of separation and crushing , the glass is turned into cullet which can then go straight into the manufacture of new glass , whilst spacer bars and any other materials are channelled off into a separate waste stream .

This first stage recycling process is a joint initiative between Morley Glass and Saint-Gobain Glass whereby recycled glass cullet is collected in half tonne bags for use as a raw material in the production of new glass . Since the initiative started in 2019 , more than 670 tonnes of glass cullet have been produced which has saved more than half a million tonnes of ‘ virgin ’ sand from Saint-Gobain Glass ’ s manufacturing process .

But the benefits of recycling post-consumer glass in this way go far beyond saving our sand reserves . Using waste glass in place of virgin raw materials also reduces the amount of energy needed in production , which means that 199,000 tonnes of CO2 has been saved already – that is the equivalent of 332 ‘ energy years ’ for an average UK household .

Morley Glass goes even further , however , to make sure the value of the recycled glass cullet can

be utilised to fund environment initiatives across West Yorkshire through its GreenVision Fund . This enables local organisations involved in environmental improvement and green micro initiatives to benefit from individual grants of £ 500 to support the work they do .

Ian Short , MD of Morley Glass said : “ We ’ re thrilled that we can now handle three times the amount of recycled glass that we could previously . But equally important will be our increased

ability to support more green initiatives than ever as the size of our GreenVision Fund grows with recycling volumes – it ’ s a win-win .”

By providing a post-consumer glass recycling service , Morley Glass also assists Saint-Gobain Glass with their sustainability goals as they seek to increase the amount of recycled content in new float glass , which is already at the forefront of the industry .

www . morleyglass . co . uk