The normative issue of recycling end-of-life joinery is crucial

The normative issue of recycling end-of-life joinery is crucial
18.072022
Secteurs
Wood Construction
Ludivine Menez, Technical Delegate of UFME, talks about the current state of standardisation for joinery professionals and its relationship with the BNBA.
Are standardisation issues strategic for an organisation like yours?

These questions are crucial for our manufacturers who have in common that they are part of a global quality approach. I have the great privilege of chairing the French “Doors and Windows” standardisation committee BF028 since 2017 within the BNBA. This committee’s mission is to prepare European technical meetings1 , to determine the French positions on the drafts under development submitted for investigation, and to analyse the collection of existing French standards in order to make them evolve in line with European work. This work has continued despite the Covid-19 period in a deteriorated context, but its implementation has not yet been translated into texts. Moreover, 2022 marks the resumption of European standardisation activities, partly suspended pending the revision of the European Construction Products Regulation (CPR).

What are the most pressing current normative issues in your sector?

Historically, tested and certified quality used to focus on the technical performance and durability of products. Then the question of installation became crucial, since high-performance joinery can only be understood within the framework of an installation that respects the rules of the trade. Today, the issue of sustainable development is at the heart of our practices, from eco-design to the collection and sorting of end-of-life joinery, as in the case of the UFME commitment charter for the recycling of end-of-life joinery, associated with the FERVAM brand (Filière engagée pour le recyclage et la valorisation des menuiseries). UFME wants the French quality joinery industry to play a leading role on these crucial issues.

Concretely, how can you act on these issues with the BNBA?

We are pushing for regulation to provide a framework for empirical circular economy practices. This can take the form of technical specifications, guides or standards. Of course, there is already a comprehensive legal framework such as the AGEC law, or a more technical one such as the BR 2020. Similarly, we have a large arsenal of standards for new products. On the other hand, we have no way of characterising reused and reutilised products, which are two different concepts2 . It is therefore necessary to have uniform and shared criteria with an equivalent to the CE marking that can constitute a guarantee for the end customer and an insurability of the works. The reduction of our carbon footprint cannot be achieved at the expense of the quality of the building. This issue is all the more important as all the components of a joinery without exception are now recyclable and potential sources of secondary materials that can be integrated into new joineries, which have less impact…

1 CEN/TC 33 – WG1 and specific groups (Fire – harmonised standards) or ISO/TC 162 for example

2 In re-use, the product is used for a new purpose identical to the one for which it was designed. In reuse, its components will be recovered to be used for another product than the initial one or for another use.

UFME (Union des fabricants de menuiseries)

The UFME brings together 350 professionals involved in the design, assembly and installation of wood, aluminium and PVC joinery. It includes manufacturers of all sizes who account for 60% of door and window production in France. Created in 2007, after the merger of UF PVC and SNFMI, this union is a partner member of the Pôle Fenêtre of the Fédération Française du Bâtiment. Among its many missions to support its members, UFME works to develop quality standards, labels and certifications. It also represents the French joinery industry in national and European bodies in conjunction with the BNBA.