£1 million investment cuts window waste

NEW venture for Ian and Joanne Murray

A FORMER Oldham businessman has invested more than £1 million in a new, state-of-the-art processing plant and premises in Tameside.

The new recycling business has teamed up with a Midlands manufacturer to offer the equestrian sector a market-leading, sustainable fencing system made from 100 per cent recycled post-consumer PVC windows.

Ian Murray, a manager at the Connell Group, Royton, for 11 years, has established PVC Recycling at Stephanie Works, Bayley Street, Stalybridge.

Mr Murray and his wife, Joanne, from Mossley, run the business with support from his former employer Ervan Connell, who has invested in the new enterprise.

PVC Recycling came into being in 2007 as a natural progression of the Shredtec Recyclers project started by the Murrays in 2005.

The aim was to build a plant in the UK that could convert the post-consumer materials, predominantly PVCu window frames diverted from landfill, and process them to a quality fit for reuse in manufacturing. Stephanie Works provides a clean working environment with enough space to operate in two distinct areas — an outdoor space for receiving and handling the materials and indoor unit for refining.

Mr Murray said: “Every tonne of waste PVC recycled in new products saves 140 old plastic windows from being landfilled.

“Given today’s high-profile sustainability agenda, more and more people are keen to use recycled materials where possible. Paddock fencing is just one example of where recycled plastic offers a genuine practical and ‘green’ solution.”

Plastic frames diverted from landfill are processed by PVC Recycling into chip or melt-filtrated pellets to a quality that can be used to make new products.

Chip and rubber produced as a by-product of this process can be supplied direct for blending with sand to create a cost-effective, comfortable and hard-wearing surface.

PAL Group, which has several sites in the West Midlands, uses this 100 per cent recycled material in a white fencing product to complement its existing range of fencing and gate products.

With support from Envirolink Northwest, WRAP and Recovinyl — the PVC industry’s recycling initiative — PVC Recycling is actively developing new markets.