Dekura warns of the high cost of unsubstantiated ‘eco’ claims
13th October 2008
Leading PVC-U recycler Dekura has warned that fabricators and installers must back-up their environmental claims or face potentially costly penalties.
The warning comes following the publication of the adjudication last week by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over claims made by a PVC-U window fabricator and installer about the environmental performance of its products.
This found that even though the company had aimed “to make the overall impact of their activities [environmentally] neutral or positive” the disposal of PVC-U in landfill had “divided opinion” as to whether it could justifiably claim that its products were “sustainable”.
In light of this the ASA upheld a complaint that by claiming to be “ecological on design”, the advertising campaign could mislead the public, forcing the company to pull its advertising.
David Wrigley, director, Dekura said: “There have been massive advances in PVC-U technology. It’s low maintenance, energy efficient and eminently recyclable. And in recycling PVC-U, it becomes not only a long life product but also as sustainable as building materials get – it is an ‘eco’ product – something recently recognised in an ‘A’ and ‘A+’ BRE Green Guide rating.
“But while its environmental credentials are there on paper, PVC-U is only ‘sustainable’ if the industry buys in to making it one and that means taking responsibility for recovering, reprocessing and re-using material, not just in production but at end of life.
“This is to a large extent the ASA’s point. They have made a ‘cradle to grave’ assessment of sustainability. Energy efficiency or lifetime performance is not enough, the industry must take a responsible approach to end of life ‘disposal’ if it wants to use the ‘eco’ tag.”
And the penalties for getting it wrong can be high. The ASA has the authority to force companies charged with making misleading claims to drop campaigns with immediate effect, with clear cost implications.
It also has authority to refer cases to the Office of Fair Trading, which has far sharper teeth. This includes the power to impose unlimited fines, past examples of which have run to £500,000 or more.
But Wrigley suggests the long term cost to those PVC-U window fabricators and installers that fail to put their house in order could be even higher. He said: “Sustainability and being sustainable will be, if not already, fundamental to doing business.
“The Government is driving the sustainability agenda and there is also growing consumer awareness. Fabricators and installers who don’t invest in green technologies simply won’t be here in ten years time.”
Dekura is the largest and the UK’s leading PVC-U recycler, collecting waste from more than 1,000 window and door fabricators and installers nationwide.
Uniquely in the UK the company is not only able to recycle waste generated in the fabrication process but also post-consumer waste generated from old early generation PVC-U windows and roofline products that have reached the end of their natural life cycle.
Importantly, Dekura also offers full cycle traceability on all waste material, including post-consumer waste. This demonstrable audit trail means post-consumer roofline products and windows and doors can be followed into a new generation of products giving the recycling process full transparency.
“If you’re going to push the environmental credentials of your products you need to be specific, clear about what you’re saying and to be able to substantiate your claims”, said Wrigley. “If you are sending tonnes and tonnes of PVC-U to landfill your business is not environmentally sustainable. Equally importantly you’re doing so at cost, when that cost could be turned into an income.
“Environmentally and economically, it simply makes sense to recycle. The technology and expertise is there it’s imperative that PVC-U window fabricators and installers now use it – the price of failing to do so is all too clear.”