Europe's largest industry meeting for the demolition and dismantling sector has been a growing success for years. 124 exhibitors and 1,200 participants recently attended the conference, which is traditionally held in Berlin. They had the opportunity to obtain comprehensive information about products and services relating to demolition, pollutant clean-up and recycling. For the first time, the event focussed on sustainability. "The topic is a welcome opportunity for the demolition industry. After all, it is of central importance for a functioning and coherent circular economy in construction," says Andreas Pocha, Managing Director of the German Demolition Association (Deutscher Abbruchverband e.V.), Cologne. Without the secondary materials from demolition, a genuine circular economy would not be possible.
Implementation of an environmentally friendly material cycle
"The current topics of the Demolition 2024 symposium correspond almost 1:1 to the long-standing concerns of Aktion PVC-Recycling, Bonn. That's why, as in previous years, we took part in the industry get-together with our own stand," reported Dr Jochen Zimmermann, Managing Director of Arbeitsgemeinschaft PVC Bodenbelag Recycling (AgPR), Marl. In cooperation with the Europe-wide VinylPlus® sustainability programme, AgPR, Rewindo GmbH Fenster-Recycling-Service; KRV - Kunststoffrohrverband e.V. and VinylPlus Deutschland e.V. are pooling their strengths and expertise in the campaign. "Our common goal is to implement an environmentally friendly material cycle for PVC construction products in Germany, which not only conserves existing resources but also significantly reduces the CO2 footprint of the PVC industry," emphasised Rewindo Managing Director Michael Vetter. An important partner here is the demolition industry with its concept of selective dismantling.
Interdisciplinary PVC construction product recycling
"Unlike in the past, buildings that are dismantled as part of construction projects have long been considered valuable sources of materials for environmentally friendly reuse. The term 'urban mining' has become increasingly important in this context. Aktion PVC-Recycling, with its cross-trade PVC construction products recycling programme, sees itself as an important partner and problem solver for the demolition industry," explained Zimmermann. Founded in 1990, his PVC flooring recycling working group (AgPR) is now an initiative of PVC flooring manufacturers Altro, Gerflor, Polyflor and Tarkett that collects used PVC flooring throughout Germany and in some neighbouring European countries. These are processed into finely ground material at the AgPR recycling plant in Troisdorf and then used for the production of new PVC construction products, among other things, if suitable.
The entire value and disposal chain is required
In addition to the AgPR, the KRV - Plastic Pipe Association also actively participated in the conference. "Recycling has been established in the plastic pipe industry for years, and recyclable materials are very important. The amount of used material recycled by plastic pipe manufacturers in Germany currently amounts to around 57,000 tonnes per year. This is around 6 % of the total production of plastic pipe systems of around 1 million tonnes," says project manager Andreas Redmann. There is definitely room for improvement. The recycling share of total production in Germany should be at least doubled! "The topics of 'circular economy' and 'sustainability' have gained enormously in importance in recent years and are playing an increasingly important role in the wider public debate. Especially in the construction sector, there is still a lot of potential to be realised in terms of recycling. The entire value and disposal chain is called upon to move forward together," emphasised Redmann. The importance of recycling plastic pipes was recognised by the plastic pipe industry in Germany as early as 1994 and a collection system for old pipes and pipe sections was successfully established and continuously developed.
High importance of PVC old window recycling
In addition to other PVC construction products, the Rewindo system is of great importance to the demolition industry: as an industry solution, it coordinates and organises a material cycle for the material recycling and reuse of used PVC windows, doors and roller shutters throughout Germany. Rewindo cooperates with a steadily growing number of operationally active and technically specialised recycling partners and is now supported by 26 premium partners along the PVC value chain as well as more than 70 collection points nationwide.
Recycling one million tonnes of PVC annually across Europe by 2030
"In 2022, we were able to recover a recycling volume of over 44,200 tonnes of recycled pellets from old PVC windows and almost 100,000 tonnes from production residues and profile sections from demolition projects and energy-efficient renovations, which corresponds to an annual volume of around 2.5 million old windows," says Vetter. Almost 100 per cent of the regranulate is used in the production of new PVC windows with a recycled core without any loss of technical quality. The annual recycling volumes achieved in Germany through Rewindo also have a positive impact on the recycling targets of the joint VinylPlus® sustainability programme of the European PVC industry. The aim is to recycle one million tonnes of PVC every year across Europe by 2030.
