Where do old windows and doors go to die? Taking recycling seriously!

For the past twenty years we have been taking out old frames and replacing them with PVC, Aluminium and Timber windows and doors, only occasionally thinking of where the skip full of glass, wood and debris actually ends up.

Recently we decided to look into it further and were shocked to find that all of the waste going into our skips was headed direct to landfill sites. Literally making mountains – out of old windows!

Taking our 200ish frames a month and multiplying it nationally provides some really shocking statistics. And so we are very proud to be able to unveil our partnership with Donarbon Waste Management.

We take all of our building waste for windows doors and flat roofing projects to the local recycling centre instead of part filling skips. Once transported to the centre, the full vehicle is drawbridge weighed to assess our charges and then offloaded into a recycling area. Donarbon assures us that currently at least 50% of the glass frames and waste is recycled and this figure will be increasing all the time going forward as their facilities and mechanisms become more developed.

We’ll be honest, it’s led to a few gripes. Our installers are inconvenienced by early morning or evening visits to the recycling centre and have taken some getting used to, hence the gripes. However, now they have all been briefed on the benefits they are delighted to be helping the environment in their own important way.

And the cost? Surprisingly, even when taking into account time and petrol costs, the overall price of recycling is very similar to that of using skips for landfill, if not lower!

For any companies similarly concerned with their own environmental impact, we wholeheartedly recommend getting in touch with their local recycling experts.