After running for almost 1.5 years, the campaign "Best Practice for the Environment" will enter the home stretch next spring. Its primary purpose is to identify exemplary building projects, especially in the federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, in which discarded PVC building products such as windows or floor coverings are recycled and reused. The initiators - Arbeitsgemeinschaft PVC und Umwelt e.V. (AGPU), Rewindo GmbH, Fenster-Recycling-Service, both Bonn, as well as the Arbeitsgemeinschaft PVC-Bodenbelag Recycling (AgPR), Marl - also want to demonstrate that mechanical PVC recycling in the construction industry sets modern, environmentally sound standards for resource efficiency and sustainability not only in eastern Germany, but throughout the entire republic.
Model project launched in 2016
The initiative is aimed at housing, window, waste disposal and demolition companies as well as public building owners. At the end of the campaign, exemplary "best practice" references in words and pictures, press reports and statements from companies and associations on the model project launched in summer 2016 will be published in a
Documentation compiled. From the beginning, several companies and institutions have expressed their support for the "Best Practice for the Environment" initiative, including the Verband Sächsischer Wohnungsgenossenschaften e.V. (VSWG), Dresden; the Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie e.V. (HDB), Berlin; the Deutsche Abbruchverband e.V., Cologne; the Bauindustrieverband Sachsen / Sachsen-Anhalt e.V., Leipzig; the Verband Fenster + Fassade (VFF), Frankfurt am Main; as well as leading window construction companies from the new German states.
The initiators have registered the majority of projects in the area of recycling old PVC windows. In this area - not only in the three federal states - high growth rates have been recorded for years. "In 2016, together with our long-standing recycling partners, we achieved a processed quantity of approximately 30,000 tonnes of regranulate from old windows, which corresponds to about 1.8 million window units. These are later used to make plastic windows with recycled cores again," reports Rewindo managing director Michael Vetter. He sees clear advantages for the participating companies in the campaign: "Through material recycling, they gain points in the public eye for sustainable action. In addition, they can save money because the recycling system is cheaper than disposal in mixed containers.
Environmentally friendly material cycle
"In addition to old windows, roofing membranes and pipes made of plastic, floor coverings are also an important component in the material recycling of building products,
emphasises AgPR Managing Director Dr Jochen Zimmermann. His organisation operates a central recycling plant for discarded PVC floor coverings in Troisdorf: "In this way, we contribute to a closed, environmentally friendly material cycle for discarded floor coverings." After sorting out other materials, the old PVC floor coverings delivered to Troisdorf are processed into fine ground material in the plant built in 1991. If suitable, this can easily be used in the production of new PVC building products."
Important component of "VinylPlus
Why "Best Practice"? "Large quantities of construction waste are produced during the energy refurbishment of residential and commercial buildings, as well as during the deconstruction of real estate. With a view to environmentally sound disposal in material cycles that are as closed as possible, material separation and material recycling are considered the best approach today," says AGPU Managing Director Thomas Hülsmann. Recycling PVC in the construction sector is also an important component of "VinylPlus", the sustainability programme of the European PVC industry.
Proposals are still being accepted
Until March 2018, all building owners from the housing industry or commercial construction, as well as demolition companies, window construction and waste disposal companies in the federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have the chance to submit their "best practice" suggestions to Rewindo, the AGPU or the AgPR. In addition to the final documentation, topical and promotional press appointments at the construction sites are planned in selected cases.
If you have a suggestion, please contact us at: Tel.: 0228 / 91783-0, Fax: 0228 / 5389594 or e-mail agpu@agpu.com