Circular business awarded certification

You may be the first plastic system supplier for frames, windows and doors to receive the Kiwa Covenant Circular Enterprise. It happened to profine Nederland BV. The Profine Group's K-VISION profile system has been awarded a certificate that conclusively proves the product's circularity and the way it works. We talk to Melissa Manrho, Communication Manager, Henk Sprick, Technical Manager and Jelmer Bijlsma, Technical Specialist and Architectural Advisor, all working at profine Nederland BV.

Life cycle runs out up to 500 years

The K-VISION profile is special for the Netherlands developed and stands alongside the brands
Kömmerling, Trocal and KBE, all developed by the German parent company. Henk talks about the use of recycled plastic in K-VISION: "Part of the plastic profiles already consisted of recycled material, extracted from recycled profine profiles. This was supplemented with new material. Replacing new material with fully recycled material changes the composition. Thanks to testing and research, Profine has succeeded in producing a profile from 100% recycled material, a real world first. The icing on the cake is the application of our innovative color system proCoverTec as a finishing layer. This guarantees the UV resistance of the recycled material. proCoverTec gives the profile a luxurious matte look and feel in addition. A K-VISION window frame has an average lifespan of more than 50 years and can be recycled at least 10 times. This increases the life cycle to as much as 500 years."

Melissa Manrho, Henk Sprick and Jelmer Bijlsma. (Image: Andre Dieterman Photography)

First in the world to go through the certification process

"Profine is the first in the world to go through this process with Kiwa," adds Jelmer. "A tough process in which Kiwa leaves nothing to chance. For certification, Kiwa wants to personally witness every step of the production process. Now that we have been awarded the Kiwa Covenant Circular Enterprise, Kiwa remains in the picture as an inspection body and will be audited every year, where all points are intensively checked."

Asked about the procedures involved in circular production, Jelmer replied, "Throughout the production process of a frame profile and a window frame, you have to deal with residual pieces and sawing waste. That starts with us in the factory and ends with the processor of our profile. In addition, the frame manufacturer also has to deal with old plastic frames that come back as waste. We work for the return of all recyclable material with partner company Van Werven from Biddinghuizen. This not only collects everything, but also ensures that the material is reduced into coarse fractions and sorting is also done there."

"The plastic is separated there from all non-plastic parts, which in turn make their own way into the recycling stream. Then the plastic goes to PWR from Kruiningen, which granulates the recovered PVC into pellets that Profine can use as raw material."

Henk adds: "In fact, you're dealing with two streams of recycled plastics. A contaminated stream, from old window frames - which don't necessarily belong to us - and a clean stream of recycled plastics."

No debate: as good as new plastic

Despite the fact that "green thinking" is becoming the norm, here and there the idea that recycled plastic is inferior to virgin plastic is still alive.     

Henk laughs and says, "That's a fear that is really 'between the ears'. The K-VISION profiles are as good as new and, in combination with the unique proCoverTec top layer, sometimes even better than new profiles from other brands. We owe this all to new techniques used in both recycling and production."

Extrusion of profile made from recycled material.

A trinity as a foundation

Melissa emphasizes that putting the Kiwa Covenant Circular Enterprise on hold was only possible thanks to the cooperation between profine Germany, profine Netherlands and the customers, the K-VISION window frame manufacturers in the Netherlands. "We see our customers as real partners in this story. They are one-third responsible for maintaining the circular flow. Our processors who contribute to circularity have therefore been given their own logo by us. The circular K-VISION profile is a Dutch initiative, but is held in high regard by our parent company. The reason is not commercial, but social. Our private investor and CEO Dr. Peter Mrosik is an entrepreneur with vision who values how we leave the world behind for the generations that come after us. A great example of this way of thinking and acting is the foundation created, the Kömmerling Better World Foundation. This foundation supports various good social and societal causes. Each subsidiary contributes its share with local activities."

It goes without saying that Profine and the K-VISION frame manufacturers are proud of the Kiwa Covenant Circular Enterprise, at the same time, obtaining this certificate is a motivational boost for the entire industry.