It been some years that I have been writing this monthly pile of nonsense/interesting and informative column (delete according to your opinion). I hope you enjoy the columns and I hope they don’t take up too much of your time and effort. Except for this one. This time I want you to help me, well help the industry really.

I’ve written in the past about the Green Guide for Specification and the fact that it is being revised by the Building Research Establishment (BRE). This has probably not had too much effect on your business because it is not universally used. It is also very contentious, exhibiting what many have seen as an anti-PVC bias. For instance, when challenged why PVC-U windows were only given a reference service life (RSL) of 25 years, when we know that PVC does not rot or corrode and the life of the window depends on the hardware rather than the framing material, the writers of the Green guide said it was because they did not have enough experience of PVC-U windows to justify any longer period. Not justifiable, you may have thought, as we did, so we provided enough evidence of the performance of real life frames going back to the 70s to get the RSL increased to 35 years. However, GRP windows were given an RSL of 35 years straight off even though there is virtually no experience of these products in this country and precious little elsewhere! If that isn’t bias, I don’t know what is.

Sorry, just let me get off my soap box and put my drum away.

One of the areas where we accepted that we didn’t have accurate enough information was in the quantities of waste we produced and how we handled it – recycled or land-filled in the main. We know that off-cuts are a saleable resource and schemes are in place to collect these from fabricators. Indeed, the recyclers want more than they can get. This is not a plea to produce more off-cuts! Other sources of waste include things like mis-measures, broken frames and old PVC-U windows removed and replaced. But what we don’t have are percentages, and percentages are what we need to convince the Green Guide drafters that we do not produce lots of material going to landfill – or maybe we do. We just don’t know. And this, as if you haven’t guessed it, is where you come in. If you are a fabricator or fabricator/installer, I want you to help and provide me with information. This information will be kept strictly confidential and only industry averages will be made available. Only I will see individual company’s figures. As a return for your provision of information, you will be able to judge your company against the industry mean and so know whether you are performing well in terms of waste or whether you should be making savings.

So, this is the information I need.

Firstly, I would like to know what percentage of your profiles end up as off cuts. This is not quite as easy as it sounds as you will be buying profile by bar length but selling off cuts by weight. However, with a bit of effort it can be done by looking at your profile deliveries over, say, a year and multiplying lengths by weights per metre (available from your system supplier) and adding up the tonnages you have supplied to your off cut recycler, presumably available on paperwork supplied by the recycler.

Secondly, I would like to know how many mis-measures or mis-manufactures (broken welds, for example) you made in a given period expressed as a percentage of your total output. And, importantly what you did with them. Some companies take the time to break them down to recover the hardware and recycle the profiles in with the off cuts. If this is your practice then the tonnages will already be counted in with the off cuts. If not, where do they go? Propped up round the back of the factory until they become an embarrassing pile and then skipped?

Thirdly, how many old PVC-U windows do you replace (as a percentage of the total windows you install)? This is going to be geographically very varied due to hot spots in the early 80s when things were really starting to shift in the PVC-U window industry and where local authorities started specifying PVC-U windows but of a very low specification (single glazed, *censored*spur handles, external beads, etc.) where they are now being upgraded. If you are removing old PVC-U windows, what do you do with them? Recycled? Skipped? If they are not being recycled, they should be. Go to www.Recovinyl.com for information on how to get them recycled. I’ve written about this scheme previously, so I’m not going to repeat it all this time.

Lastly, how many windows are damaged on site again as a percentage of total windows installed? It has been claimed that there is a wastage rate of 2.5% in this area which, frankly, I do not believe. I reckon the figure was plucked out the air. Any installation team of mine that wasted 1 in 40 windows would not be around for long! The odd sealed unit, maybe, but not frames.

By taking the time and trouble to gather these statistics, you will know more about your business and where you are performing well and where not so well in comparison with the rest of the industry; where improvements can be made and money saved. Money that goes straight to the bottom line (or towards the next Ferrari). You will also help the industry as a whole as we will be able to provide accurate data for the Green Guide and, hopefully, ensure the rating of PVC-U windows is fair and accurate. The revision of the Guide contains systems and procedures much more open than the original document, so bias should not come into it this time.

The Green Guide may not be a great factor now, but it will be. You may be aware of the Government’s Code for Sustainable Homes which, amongst a great many other aspects, effectively heavily promotes the use of A rated products from the Green Guide. PVC-U windows are currently rated C although this should change with the increased Reference Service Life of 35 years and accurate data on wastage – if you come through with the data! The Code will be applied to all housing paid for from public money via, for example, The Housing Corporation, the government agency that funds and regulated Registered Social Landlords. Private developers will also be heavily encouraged to use the Code, so it will have an increasing effect, possibly negative, on the PVC-U industry across all sectors. So, if you are a fabricator of PVC-U products, you owe it to yourself to assist in the gathering of this data.

If you are willing to help and have the information available or can easily gather it, please let me have it on pauljervis1@yahoo.co.uk. If you are willing to help but need guidance or assistance in gathering the data, then either email me or telephone me on 01457 765668 and we can sort something out. If you are not willing to help, why not?

Paul Jervis
21st August 2006