Sustainability at Total Home

Caring for the environment is of principal importance in today’s society, and here at Total Home NI we have taken steps to reduce our impact on the environment. We source most of our building materials locally, reducing transport pollution and supporting local businesses.

We ensure any new materials we source can be totally recycled or have already been recycled, leaving as little lasting damage on the environment as possible.

At Total Home NI, we are landfill free. Recycling our waste materials and off-cuts, we are able to ensure that we contribute zero waste to landfill. Any waste that cannot be recycled is given to our local recycling centre for incineration. This incinerator creates energy which is used as fuel to produce power for our local power grid.

Our Belfast production facility, as well as our showrooms and offices, are powered in part by our on-site solar farm. Power from the solar panels contributes to around 45% of our energy, cutting our carbon emissions nearly in half.

In terms of the timber we use, we only source timber from FSC certified suppliers; with five trees planted for every one used in our construction. Timber is a precious resource, essential to sustain the environment and is readily used in the design and construction of our garden rooms and therefore, it is key we are responsible when resourcing it.

Our efforts with sustainability don’t stop there, here at Total Home we like to work with sustainable suppliers and partners. One of our main partners, Deceuninck, run a recycling scheme.

Deceuninck has quadrupled its recycling capacity to 45,000 tonnes a year – this new automated recycling line processes post-industrial as well as post-consumer materials with superior efficiency and quality. With the qualitative end product that can be used 1 on 1 in the production of new profiles, its Deceuninck’s ambition to create a circular economy.

At Deceuninck, they have invited all of their partners like ourselves to join them in their recycling efforts by providing post-industrial and post-consumer materials for re-utilisation in the core of our profiles.

Their recycling programme

It’s honest – We provide Deceuninck with our recycling materials, and they provide us with payment in return, as a company Deceuninck is committed to buying materials at market prices at all times.

It’s easy – For each source, Deceuninck optimise logistics to ensure minimum effort from partners is required.

It’s sustainable – Thanks to this scheme, we get the chance to contribute to creating a circular economy – each participating partner receives a certificate from Deceuninck stating the amount of recycled uPVC brought back into the economy and the co2 emissions that are thereby avoided.

What does this actually mean?

Deceuninck has increased its capacity to 45,000 tonnes of recycled material – what that really means is;

Preventing 2.3 million windows from going to landfill or incineration every year.

45,000 tonnes of recycled PVC equals reduced CO2 emissions worth 90,000 flights back and forth from Paris & New York.

The energy consumption of recycling PVC is 90% lower than the energy needed to produce virgin PVC.

PVC can be recycled up to ten times without losing its mechanical characteristics, with a lifespan of 35 years, the potential lifecycle of PVC materials reaches up to 350 years.

Here at Total Home, we look to help more people appreciate the long lifespan, low maintenance of uPVC and its ability to be continually reincarnated. These practical benefits make uPVC one of the most sustainable products currently available in the building and home improvement market.

Get in touch with our team to find out more today.