Deceuninck opts for 100% recycled profiles with Phoenix.

Circular project construction

Deceuninck, Belgian producer of plastic and aluminum profiles for windows and doors, is the largest recycler of rigid plastic in the Benelux. The company has been committed to a sustainable future and has been incorporating recycled plastic into their profiles for years, but Phoenix is the first range to consist of 100% recycled plastic. The new range of profiles gives new life to old materials by recovering and recycling them, extending their life cycle. Like a phoenix rising from its own ashes. With the new range, Deceuninck wants to focus mainly on the evolving project market where circularity is gaining influence at a rapid pace.

First projects in the Netherlands

The Netherlands set ambitious circular targets in 2018. For example, they want all public procurement to be carried out with recycled materials starting in 2023. By 2030, they want to halve CO2 consumption in construction in order to achieve fully circular construction by 2050. It is therefore no coincidence that the first Phoenix projects were realized in the Netherlands. Earlier this year, the Aloysius Foundation school in Eindhoven was fitted with Phoenix windows. Window manufacturer Ploeg window frames also chose the Phoenix series for the sustainable renovation of their offices.

Elegant series as the basis

Reprocessing plastic does not affect quality, as the material can be reused up to 10 times. Recycling also provides energy savings of 90% compared to creating new plastic raw material. Deceuninck therefore calls on the market to send broken out plastic joinery to them so that it can be recycled and reused to produce new profiles. The Phoenix plastic profiles score as highly in terms of dimensional stability, resistance and thermal insulation values as Deceuninck's other profiles. The minimalist 'Infinity' design from the Elegant series was selected as the design for the Phoenix line. This provides an extremely contemporary look for the circular window and door profiles.

Circular efforts

"At Deceuninck, we started recycling back in 2012. We then commissioned a high-tech recycling line at our compounding site in Diksmuide," said Tom Driessens, Materials & Sustainability Business Manager at Deceuninck. "In 2018, we quadrupled our recycling capacity to 45,000 tons of plastic, equivalent to 2.3 million old windows per year. That's 2.3 million windows that are not landfilled or incinerated every year. With these efforts, Deceuninck is prepared for the future requirements for the construction industry as the use of a maximum percentage of recycled material becomes the norm.