How to set up a uPVC recycling scheme at your trade counter

Why it suits a trade counter

Window merchants, hardware merchants and trade counters sit in the middle of the industry. Installers walk in every week to pick up consumables, ask for advice and do their buying, and you know how thin the margin is between branches that keep installers and branches that don't.

That relationship comes down to more than price: stock availability, the counter manager who knows the customer's name, after-sales support, and now whether the branch can help the installer meet what their own customers expect. In 2026, one of those expectations is that the old windows are taken away and recycled.

A trade-counter recycling scheme helps with that, as an add-on to the windows you already sell.

What installers now expect

Homeowners now ask installers where the old windows go, which they didn't in 2010. Sometimes it's an environmental question, sometimes a procurement requirement on landlord or commercial work, and sometimes just curiosity. The installer needs an answer other than "the skip".

Most installers don't have the volume to set up specialist uPVC recycling on their own. Five replacement jobs a week isn't enough to interest most recyclers, and it's not enough for the installer to want the admin.

If you, as their merchant, can offer a ready-made scheme with your branding on it, where we do the collection and the paperwork, you've solved a problem they couldn't solve alone. That keeps them coming back, and it sets you apart from the merchant down the road who hasn't bothered.

How it works

The scheme keeps your branch out of the operations and the compliance.

1. Installer buys windows from your branch. It's a normal sale on normal terms, and nothing changes about your existing process.
2. You offer the recycling scheme as an add-on. That can be a tick-box on the order, a leaflet at the counter or a line in the quote pack. The installer says yes for the job they're on.
3. They give us the site details. These can come through your branch, or directly to us with your branch reference. We schedule the collection of the old uPVC and any sealed units around the install date.
4. We collect, process and document. The installer's site gets cleared, the material gets recycled, and an electronic waste transfer note (eWTN) is issued within 24 hours.
5. Branded paperwork goes back through you. The installer gets a recycling summary with your branch's branding on it to pass on to their customer.

The homeowner sees the installer arranged it and the installer sees the merchant arranged it, so everyone keeps the relationship that matters to them.

Who carries the legal duty

Merchants tend to worry about this part. Running a recycling scheme as a merchant does not make you a waste carrier, a waste producer or a waste broker, as long as the chain is set up like this:

• The waste producer is the installer. Under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the moment a fitter lifts a frame off the wall and takes it off site, the installer is the waste producer. (More in waste transfer notes for installers.)
• The waste carrier is us. We're the Environment Agency Upper-Tier registered waste carrier. The collection runs on our licence and we issue the eWTN to the installer, naming them as producer and us as carrier.
• You, the merchant, make the introduction. Helping your installer book a collection doesn't make your branch a producer, carrier or broker, any more than passing on a plant hire company's number would.
• Your branding sits on top. Branded counter materials and a branded recycling summary for the installer's customer don't change who carries the legal duty.

Single branch or full network

We work with merchants on both ends of the scale.

Single branch. You test the scheme with your installers at one trade counter before going bigger. We set it up for that branch, with collections from the nearest of our five hubs, and send you a monthly summary of collections referred from your branch so you can decide from there.

Multi-branch or national. One scheme runs across the network, branded centrally, with branch reference codes so each location can track its own take-up. Reporting goes to head office and collections are made locally from the nearest hub, so installers get the same service whichever branch they walk into.

For multi-branch rollouts we usually pilot with two or three branches in the North West, Midlands or Yorkshire, sort out the counter materials, then roll out across the rest.

How it fits the window sale

The scheme is attached to the windows the installer is already buying from you, so the conversation at the counter only changes a bit. An installer who'd normally ask for "eight casements for a job in Wigan" can add "and I'll take the recycling scheme too, I've got a skip on order I can cancel".

The installer saves on skip hire, has a better answer for the homeowner, and doesn't have to think about waste carrier compliance for that job. On your side it's one small admin step: taking the site postcode and install date.

What it costs your branch

A typical scheme costs your branch nothing. We carry the cost of collection because the uPVC is worth enough at the recycler to cover it, so there's no setup fee, no charge per collection and no kit to buy.

In return, we ask that you tell your installers about it. The branches that get most out of it are the ones whose counter staff bring it up on every relevant order.

For installers asking about disposal prices outside a merchant scheme, see the cost of disposing of uPVC windows.

Numbers to watch

• Take-up rate. This is the share of installers buying replacement windows from your branch who take the recycling add-on. It should climb steadily over the first six months.
• Repeat rate. This shows whether installers who used it on one job use it on the next, and it's the one that matters most.
• Quote-to-order rate. This shows whether quotes that include the scheme convert better than quotes that don't.
• Tonnage recycled. The volume of uPVC recycled through the scheme under your branding is a number you can report to head office or use in your own marketing.

Getting it set up

From first conversation to live scheme is usually two to three weeks. Most of that is artwork: getting your logo, colours and reference codes onto the counter materials and the summary template. The collection side is ready from day one because it runs on our existing routes.

If you're a buyer, branch manager or operations lead at a window merchant, hardware merchant or trade counter, the main question is whether your installers would take it up. We handle the logistics, compliance, branding and reporting.

Email info@upvcrecycling.com or call us. We'll talk through your branches, where the nearest hub is and what a pilot would look like. It can be live within the month.