BPF Windows Group Hits the Road

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the leading trade association of the UK Plastics Industry (representing approximately 80% of turnover), a springboard for industry action, existing to exploit common opportunities and resolve shared problems. BPF Membership (through direct membership and affiliated organisations) encompasses over 600 companies from the plastics industry supply chain.

The BPF Windows Group (BPFWG) represents the interests of all those involved in the plastics windows industry - these include raw material suppliers, additive suppliers, systems suppliers, fabricators and installers.

The BPFWG has been in existence since 1981 and continues to play a major role in establishing the credibility of plastic as a material from which to manufacture windows.  The Group – through various specialist Committees - helps to set industry standards, engages in dialogue with regulators and non-governmental organisations as well as creating an industry platform to communicate with customer bodies.  The Group is now the voice of the UK plastics windows, doors and conservatories industries. It generates a large range of publications and industry guidelines, also providing advisory input into British Standards, European Standards and Building Regulations, liaising with the British Board of Agrement, the Building Research Establishment and also the British Standards Institute.

As part of the PVC industrys continued drive towards sustainable development, the BPFWG oversees, monitors and reports on the PVC-U window sectors response to Vinyl 2010 - The Voluntary Committment of the PVC Industry. Vinyl 2010 is the ten-year voluntary programme on Sustainable Development by the whole PVC industry.  We help manage certain key measures; targets, projects and research studies primarily concerning environmental protection and resource management.

Vinyl 2010 has delivered and continues to deliver progress in key areas, such as:

• Calcium organic stabilisers are replacing lead based stabilisers.
• Lead based stabilisers phased-out by 2015.

Under RecoVinyl, the recycling arm of Vinyl 2010, the UK is leading the way within Europe, with the amount of PVC product being collected and also recycled. Indeed, well over 16,800 tonnes of PVC was collected and recycled in the UK, in 2006 alone.

The BPF Windows and Vinyls Groups are running a series of free PVC PR Seminars across the country in 2007. These are specifically for specifiers, architects and house builders. The aim of these seminars is to address many of the misconceptions that exist within the public domain about PVC. Through a series of presentations, made by leading industry representatives and also end-users, we are able to address many of the key issues of the day.

The schedule for the remainder of 2007 is as follows:

• 20th September - Edinburgh.
• 27th September - Leeds
• 04th October - Manchester
• 25th October - Sustainable Communities Conference 2007, London. www.sustainablecommunities2007.co.uk)

Ends . . .

Anyone interested in attending, or requiring further information, should contact Tim Marsden: [email protected]

All details about the BPF / BPFWG can be found at www.bpf.co.uk and www.bpfwindowsgroup.co.uk