Simon Scholes, who has driven the £8 million move and expansion of VEKA Recycling Ltd to its new site in Wellingborough, has been appointed as the company’s Managing Director.
Simon has steered the firm from its original Kent site, having identified and negotiated the new 5.7 acre facility that is set to become Europe’s most advanced recycler of PVC-U windows and doors. A wholly owned subsidiary of VEKA Umwelttechnik GmbH, the Wellingborough facility will add to the already impressive 75,000 tonnes (the equivalent of 4.5m windows) of PVC-U windows recycled annually by the VEKA Recycling Group, a figure that is set to grow significantly when the plant becomes fully self-sufficient during the course of 2019.
Simon has been involved with PVC-U recycling since 2007 and serves as Chair of the Rigid Plastic Recycling Group of the British Plastics Federation (BPF). He believes that the growth of recycling of virgin and post consumer and industrial PVC-U is essential for the prosperity of the UK window and door industry: “Whilst single use plastics continue to receive negative publicity worldwide, we have an excellent record of re-processing PVC-U in Europe and especially in the UK. Last year the PVC recycling industry recycled almost 80,000 tonnes in the UK alone.
“But we have to continue working towards the day when 100% of windows and doors removed become new products, whilst most virgin offcuts are already recycled into new profiles. Our long-term strategy at VEKA Recycling is to promote and develop recycling as standard process for every window fabricator and installer in this country, as well as working towards the day when every PVC-U window installed will contain a significant percentage of recycled material.”
