Veka
VEKA Recycling's new compounding line at its Kent facility
VEKA Recycling has revealed it has invested almost £1 million in its UK facility, a move it says will allow it to produce high-quality recyclate suitable for a wide range of new PVC-U extruded products.
A new compounding line installed at its Kent site will enable the company, an accredited Recovinyl recycler, to supply UK and European markets with PVC-U pellet derived from post-industrial or post-consumer window frame material. This is in addition to the existing supplies of both pellet and micronised PVC-U (pulver) from its German and French factories.
Tony Cattini, Managing Director of VEKA Recycling, said this investment in UK capacity will help to meet continuing demand for recycled content in new products with all the associated economic and environmental benefits for manufacturers and consumers.
“It also underlines our commitment to progressive growth and development in this sector as well as continuing to offer a sustainable and reliable outlet for PVC window waste,” he continued.
Observing ‘encouraging trends’ going into 2014, Tony added: “We have a new string to our bow now we can supply directly from our UK factory, offering a quality and consistent supply to manufacturers.
“More businesses are recognising the tangible economic and environmental benefits of recycling PVC and we have already had interest from a number of major players in the UK. With our new push into the extrusion market we can now offer a closed loop solution in our home market.”
Simon Scholes, VEKA Recycling’s Business Administration Manager, explained their approach fits in with Recovinyl’s ‘Pull Market Concept’, involving both the existing recycling network and convertors. This concept has been created to support the re-use of as much post-consumer and post-industrial PVC from the market as possible by stimulating the regular use of recycled material in production processes.
“This is becoming more widespread with recycled PVC being used in new window profiles such as VEKA’s Infiniti, as well as other plastic building products,” he said. “We will also continue to focus on maintaining high quality standards of waste PVC frames.
“Quality counts when it comes to recycling waste PVC and feedstock contamination levels impact on the value of goods that can subsequently be made from the recycled material. We want to see old frames going back into new windows and this is achievable provided the quality is right.”
Simon also added that enquiry levels are rising from building companies seeking a dependable partner to recycle their PVC window waste as the economic recovery in the construction sector gathers pace.