Since 1993 VEKA Umwelttechnik GmbH, has operated Europe's most advanced PVC recycling plant in the Thuringian town of Behringen. Discarded windows, doors and roller shutters made of synthetic materials should not end up at a waste disposal site but rather be reused for production in a closed raw material cycle.

Thus we can guarantee our partners, processors, distributors and disposal companies that disposal is carried out in an environmentally friendly way and in accordance with the relevant regulations. At the same time we provide them with the best sales pitch, giving them a decisive competitive advantage over the competition since the environment and recycling are aspects that have become increasingly important selling points.

Early in 2007, VEKA plc initiated what is thought to be the biggest-ever recycling initiative of its kind by any UK system supplier with the launch of VEKA Recycling.

Based on the significant investment of a primary processing facility in Kent, the initiative links major refurbishment sites all over the UK, collecting complete post-consumer windows* – from any original manufacturer’s profile, for reprocessing.

Its purpose is not only to collate the entire operation but also to process the material into a form that can be transported more fuel-efficiently to VEKA Umwelttechnik – avoiding the irony of wasting natural resources in order to save them.

Many installation companies have not been slow to note that removal and recycling this way offers real cost benefits over landfill as well as the obvious reduction in environmental impact.

VEKA Recycling is equally capable of reprocessing any PVC-U window, irrespective of the original system manufacturer, eliminating any need for recognition or selection.

VEKA Recycling in the UK is only one part of a growing global commitment by VEKA Worldwide, which has already seen similar initiatives launched in a number of other countries.

Up to now, post-consumer windows have often been referred to as ‘end-of-life.’ Now, VEKA Recycling has shown that the end of each window’s life is really only the beginning of the next.

*The Building Research Establishment supports the evidence of the British Plastics Federation that a PVC-U window should be expect to have: a service life of at least 35 years under normal urban and non-aggressive conditions.”