December 2020

PVC-U Recycling
Continued from page 20
should revisit the decision and may come under
pressure from its remaining member states.
“Short-term, the ability of UK recyclers to recover
post-consumer waste is limited unless it’s from
known sources and they can prove that it doesn’t
contain lead stabilisers.”
According to the latest figures from VinylPlus,
the PVC industry sustainability programme,
the collective efforts of the PVC industry has
contributed to an all-time high PVC-U building
product recycling rate of nearly 740,000 tonnes
– 92.4% of the VinylPlus 2020 target while
cumulatively, almost 5 million tonnes of PVC have
been recycled since 2000
“There are a number of other underlying issues
that make recycling of post-consumer waste in
PVC-U manufacture, problematic in addition to its
lead content,” Keith continues.
“If material was extruded in the ‘80s it’s likely
to have used barium cadmium, the industry’s
stabiliser of choice before the switch to lead.
The point is that you cannot possibly know
what you’re getting in recycled content and you
consequently can’t predict product performance.”
The strategy adopted by the window and door
industry (in line with ECHA) has been to apply a
skin of ‘virgin’ material to recycled content. Even
this, however, Keith argues, can be problematic
simply from a production and product quality angle.
“The origin of post-consumer waste is ‘unknown’
and variable, it can be very difficult to control the
substrate, which in turn can have a significant
impact on surface gloss and consistency of finish,
skinned or not,” he says.
According to Aluplast, this is where its model of
recycling delivers a significant advantage over
those which simply ‘skin’ recycled product with
virgin material.
Ecotech from Aluplast uses only post-production
material from known sources containing calcium
organic stabilisers – this means there’s no lead
or cadmium.
Aluplast also isolates this recycled material away
from structural elements of the profile and the
surface, guaranteeing manufacture to exacting
tolerances and surface stability.
This is delivered in part through the use of
artificial intelligence to monitor the co-extrusion
process, tracking it to exacting tolerances and
guaranteeing performance.
“Ecotech provides a unique commercial platform
for our customers. We can guarantee that it’s
free of lead; performance and surface stability
are guaranteed at the same time as bringing
hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material back
into use in a new generation of low maintenance
and energy efficient products.
“Going into 2021, while a lot remains uncertain,
the importance of product sustainability to the
end-user is beyond question.”
“You cannot possibly
know what you’re
getting in recycled
content and you
consequently can’t
predict product
performance”
Keith White
Contact Aluplast:
01684 273401
aluplast.co.uk
@aluplastsystems
22 TF DEC/JAN 2021 CONNECTING THE WINDOW, DOOR & ROOF FABRICATION SUPPLY CHAIN