VEKA Recycling

As global concerns become increasingly prominent in the news, more and more people are choosing to join VEKA in its commitment to the Environment. VEKA has been at the forefront of environmental solutions for almost as long as PVC-U has existed as a home improvement material.
 
Since 1993, VEKA Umwelttechnik GmbH, has operated Europe's most advanced PVC-U recycling plant in the Thuringian town of Behringen. VEKA believes that discarded windows, doors and roller shutters made of synthetic materials should not end up as landfill but rather be ethically reused for further production in a closed loop recycling programme.

Everyone knows the many benefits of PVC-U as a strong and durable, weather-resistant material - but not enough people fully realise its potential to be recycled. Did you know, for example, that a window can be recycled up to ten times? That's a window with a 400 year lifespan!

Early in 2007, VEKA plc initiated what is thought to be the biggest-ever recycling initiative of its kind, with the launch of VEKA Recycling. VEKA Recycling accepts not only virgin offcuts from manufacturing processes - but also old and weathered frames which are being replaced. Homeowners can rest assured then that their old frames will not be carelessly sent to landfill but will be sent to our specialised recycling plant to be processed and eventually re-made into new windows.

VEKA made a substantial investment in its primary processing facility in Kent, which links major refurbishment sites all over the UK. It collects and collates manufacturing off-cuts, as well as old window frames - whether or not they were originally produced by VEKA.

The purpose of the Kent-based facility is not only to collate the entire UK recycling 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.

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, old windows removed from houses and commercial refurbishments 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.