Cleaning up waste behind you is a matter of decency. Disposing of that same waste would relate to responsibility. Turning it into something useful would be a matter of intelligence and potential profit. To repeat this seven times with the same waste that continually becomes the same new product, thus completing the cycle only after about 300 years, now that is pure genius.
About six years ago, in a small Belgian town of Diksmuide, the management of the company Deceuninck began to turn this idea of closing the door behind them and opening a window to the future into reality. And I mean literally.
Green is in
Today it looks like this: Deceuninck is one of the three largest manufacturers of PVC profiles for windows and doors in the world, and the company whose products contain about 15 percent recycled raw material. And what is even more important in today’s growing awareness of the necessity of environmental protection – the first manufacturer to launch joinery made 100 percent from recycled material on the market. An old window is transformed into a new one, old doors into new ones, there is no waste and pollution, and about 90 percent of the energy needed to produce new elements is saved compared to the process that uses ordinary, non-recycled raw material. Although the company notes that their decision to invest in a recycling plant, amounting to 25 million euros, was primarily driven by the idea of environmental protection and the company’s strategic commitment, their business results clearly show that ‘green is in’. In 2020, their revenue was 642 million euros, in 2021 it jumped to 838 million, and last year to 974.1 million euros.
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– Not only that, but by the end of this year, we will manage to recycle more than 40,000 tons of old joinery. In other words, our recycling plant will spare more than two million windows from landfills or incineration on an annual basis. This is the largest such facility in Europe, and the recycling process is almost completely automated, allowing us to produce several times more recycled PVC than our competitors with significantly fewer resources. In facilities that operate 24/7, we currently manage to process 10 trucks of PVC waste per day. In just five years, we have increased our recycling capacity from eight thousand to the aforementioned 40 thousand tons per year – explained Emile Coene, the company’s production manager, while also clarifying how the entire process looks from A to Z.
How it works
The idea of recycling old PVC joinery in Belgium, as well as in nearby Netherlands and France where Deceuninck collects this waste, is based on a trend from the early 90s when people began to replace old wooden windows and doors with modern plastic ones en masse. Given that the average lifespan of these plastic profiles is between thirty and fifty years, we are now at a time when it is their turn for replacement. Piles of these old doors and windows have logically raised questions about their disposal location and cost. The solution that has emerged has turned the problem or waste into a new product and profit, even for ordinary citizens.
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Based on the trend from the early 90s when people began to replace old wooden windows and doors with plastic ones en masse, the production of innovative joinery made from 100 percent recycled materials was established
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– People who bring their old windows and doors to our facilities or one of the collection points, depending on the quantity, can earn several hundred euros. They can also dispose of old elements in specially designed large bags and call us to take their waste away, which we charge minimally depending on the location – they emphasize at Deceuninck.
After the collected material ends up in the warehouse, the recycling process begins in the company’s central facility, which is 60,000 square meters large, consisting of several steps necessary to remove all impurities and other elements except for the plastic itself.
– When these old elements arrive at our facility, they contain a number of other materials that need to be eliminated. We do this in four basic steps to obtain the raw material needed to start producing a new product. The first step is shredding the waste to remove metals and minerals. After that, the material is ground and washed to remove any remaining dirt from the PVC itself. In the next step, present rubber, wood, and remaining metal are removed, and sorting by color is done. The final step is granulation, which removes the smallest contaminants that may have remained. Ultimately, the granulate we obtain is of the highest quality raw material and can be used to produce new profiles. It should be noted that PVC can be recycled up to seven times before it noticeably loses quality, so considering the lifespan of such windows and doors, they actually last up to 300 years – Emil Coene explained.
Targeted neutrality
According to him, in the recycling process, from one ton of waste, 700 kg of usable plastic is obtained, 100 kg of lower quality plastic that can be used for other products, and about 100 kg of various metals. Thus, 90 percent of old windows and doors ultimately are not waste. Only 10 percent or 100 kilograms per ton is material that cannot be used for further production.
On the other hand, the purified granulate is used differently, depending on the type of PVC profile.
– Between 15 and 30 percent of that granulate is the composition of our standard new PVC profiles from the Elegant series. However, we proudly highlight a new product line aptly named Phoenix, which we launched last year, representing the first 100 percent recycled profile in the world. When we know how much effort the European Union is putting into combating climate change and that CO2 neutrality is to be achieved by 2050, it is clear that Deceuninck is on the right path. That is why we invest in new technologies that enable sustainable production and products. I believe we have made significant progress in this regard – said Bart Peeters, the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Deceuninck.
Starting with buttons
Given the attractiveness of its products in a world increasingly turning to sustainable development, and thus rewarding manufacturers whose ‘green agenda’ is not just a marketing trick but a true business philosophy and way of working, Deceuninck is growing globally at an impressive pace. The company’s beginnings date back to 1937 when Benari Deceuninck started producing buttons, belt buckles, and various products from plastic films, and today, with a hundred workers in recycling and production facilities in Belgium, the company employs nearly 4,000 employees who currently cover as many as 90 countries worldwide. On its customer list are more than 4,000 companies that produce PVC joinery using Deceuninck profiles. Clearly wisely noticing that recycling and sustainability are the approaches that have set them apart from the competition, the company’s management has set future business goals related to sustainability at an even higher level.
– By recycling 19,800 tons of waste in 2022, we reduced our carbon footprint by 37,000 tons of CO2. This number represents the annual carbon footprint of 4,900 people in Europe. Next year, if we reach a recycling capacity of 40,000 tons, we will reduce the footprint equivalent to about 10,000 Europeans – claims Céline De Waele, the manager responsible for sustainability issues at the company.
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People who bring their old windows and doors to the company’s facilities in Belgium or one of the collection points, depending on the quantity, can earn several hundred euros. During a visit to Deceuninck’s factory, it was also learned that old elements can be disposed of in specially designed large bags, and it is only necessary to call the manufacturer to take away that waste, which he charges minimally depending on the location
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According to her, in addition to approximately two tons of harmful CO2 emissions that do not go into the atmosphere for just one ton of recycled PVC, it is extremely important that such material for production saves as much as 90 percent of energy compared to conventional methods of processing ordinary plastic. In this sense, the company has set clear goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2030 (compared to the amounts from 2021).
Raw materials as from the Green Plan
According to the long-term goal set for 2050, the company should achieve a level of zero greenhouse gas emissions. To further solidify these efforts, last year it submitted its goals for evaluation to the very strict international body SBTi, which confirmed and approved the sustainability of Deceuninck’s goals set for shorter, medium, and longer terms. The company has committed to a series of radical changes; from simply replacing internal lighting, to reducing the overall level of electricity consumption in its facilities (which requires constant investments in the latest technology) to investing in solar installations on the roofs of all its 17 plants. When it comes to recycling, the company’s ultimate goal is to achieve a share of as much as 45 percent recycled material in all products that come out of its facilities. In addition to the increased use of recycled materials further reducing the ecological footprint of its products and production processes, the company also partially mitigates the negative impact of raw material price fluctuations.
Given that an intense cycle of replacing old PVC windows is currently underway in most of Western Europe, and the European Union’s Green Plan will result in additional comprehensive renovation of the real estate stock in Europe, consequently leading to new large quantities of old PVC waste ready for recycling, there is currently no shortage of raw materials for recycling. Deceuninck has also prepared for this by expanding partnerships with an additional 10 recycling centers in Belgium. They have opened a window to a green future, as they like to say at Deceuninck. Before that, they recycled it and are ready to do so for the next 300 years, again and again.
