Virgin plastic versus recycled plastic. Ask any sales person what they prefer to tell their customers they will almost always say that they prefer to tell their customers their windows and made from virgin PVC. It sounds better and you don’t have to then convince the customer about the benefits of using recycled plastic. But those occasions are numbered. The EU is clamping down on inefficiency, including products like powerful vacuum cleaners and hair dryers. How long is it going to be before we have yet another EU directive which gives the UK a set percentage of how much recycled PVC must be included in all new windows?

Reinforcing The Green Argument

There will be quite a few out there who simply don’t like the idea of recycled plastic being used for new windows. But as the main commodity (oil) used to make the polymers our products need starts to run out and become more expensive, we have to become more creative with the materials we have to hand, and that’s the old windows and doors we take out.

It’s time to accept that recycled PVC is going to become the norm rather than a novelty. Virgin PVC is going to price itself out of the market at some point in the future. Now some are already embracing the idea of recycling. Take Eurocell for example. They have their own mega recycling facility in Derby capable of processing 12,000 post consumer waste frames per week. Their new Modus range contains 50% post consumer PVC in the product. It’s not just Eurocell. VEKA also have their own dedicated recycling facility and nifty pick up system which is designed to prolong the lifespan of PVC for as long as possible. You can read more about it here: http://www.vekauk.com/profile/trade/veka-recycling.html

It is initiatives like these which are going to help reinforce the green message. Although in all honesty I don’t believe systems companies are making as much of a big deal about this as they should be.

Change Is Coming

Time is ticking though. The market is changing. It’s changing because it is being forced to. Outside pressures are making the industry at raw material level to alter the way it goes about producing their products. Price pressures, regulation and differences at consumer level are increasing the need to bring partly or full recycled “new” products to market. Morally it’s a good thing.

And it’s that moral message that is slowly starting to trickle down to the homeowner. Recycling and purchasing partly or fully recycled products is the norm now. People expect it. So as an industry now might be a good time to really start to reinforce the green message and use the recycling USP that some of our products have as a good thing. Use it to help close sales, improve the image of the industry and do our bit for the wider environment. Lets do all this now, while we have the choice, rather than wait until high prices, tight EU regulations and consumer pressures make us.