Eurocell Recycle, Ilkeston

The Challenge

Eurocell is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers, distributors and recyclers of PVC-U windows, doors and roofline products, headquartered in Alfreton, Derbyshire. Its Ilkeston plant, acquired in 2009 and now trading as Eurocell Recycle, is where end-of-life window frames from across the country are shredded, granulated and micronised so the material can be extruded into new profiles. Eurocell describes it as the largest facility of its kind in the UK.

Recycling at that scale takes a lot of electricity. The business processed 36,000 tonnes of recycled PVC-U in 2025 and has set a target of 40% recycled content across its products by 2030. Generating clean power on its own roof was a logical next step for a company whose whole model is built on cutting waste and carbon.

The Solution

Eden Sustainable designed and installed a 210 kWp rooftop solar PV system on the Ilkeston plant. The array is made up of 560 panels on the building’s profiled metal roof. They’re mounted on a mini-rail system fixed to the raised crowns of the roof sheets, which keeps the roof’s weatherproofing intact. Inverters, PV distribution boards and a generation meter were installed in the plant room.

The plant stayed fully operational throughout. With lorries and forklift trucks moving across the yard all day, Eden’s team worked to the site’s pedestrian routes and traffic rules and coordinated deliveries around the client’s operations. True to form, Eurocell recycled the timber pallets the panels arrived on. The system has been generating since 2022.

The Outcome

The system now saves around £42,000 a year on electricity and avoids 79 tonnes of CO₂ annually. For a plant that turns old windows into new ones, it means more of the energy behind that process now comes from the roof above it.

Because Eurocell owns the system outright, the saving stays with the business for the life of the panels, and every unit generated on site is protected from future rises in grid prices.