At the end of October 2017, the starting signal was given for what is in some respects a record-breaking construction project. In Schweinfurt, a former settlement of the US armed forces, now owned by the city, is currently being demolished and replaced by a new development. Work on the 28-hectare site with 34 three-storey residential rows and 13 semi-detached houses is expected to last until 2019. The demolition will be carried out according to modern and environmentally sound standards, which not only includes separating the different building materials, but also recycling them.
In addition to a larger quantity of discarded PVC floor coverings, around 2,500 old plastic windows are also removed during the demolition of the housing estate, collected in containers, then materially recycled and reused to make window and building profiles. The project in Schweinfurt is one of the four largest recycling projects for old PVC windows in Germany in the last ten years - and in the Free State of Bavaria the project even sets a recycling record. The project is supported by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft PVC und Umwelt e.V. (AGPU), Rewindo Fenster-Recycling-Service GmbH, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft PVC-Bodenbelag Recycling (AgPR), the European trade association for manufacturers of PVC window profile systems and related building products (EPPA ivzw) and the recycling company Dekura GmbH.
At a press event on 25 October, AgPR, AGPU, Rewindo and Dekura, together with the dismantling company, presented the PVC recycling activities on site. In addition to representatives of the local media, Bavarian radio also reported on the event.