Another record recycling year – VinylPlus
22nd May 2018

PVC recycling within the framework of VinylPlus has reached another record with nearly 640,000 tonnes recorded last year, the organisation’s Sustainability Forum in Madrid heard last week.

The forum attracted more than 140 stakeholders from 30 countries representing the European Commission, European Parliament, the United Nations, consumer organisations, academia, specifiers, designers, architects, recyclers and the PVC value chain.

Welcoming delegates, VinylPlus Chairman Josef Ertl said: “VinylPlus is special because it is the successful voluntary commitment of the entire PVC value chain, including resin manufacturers, additive producers and PVC converters, co-operating with the recyclers. All are working together towards a sustainable society with PVC. With VinylPlus, the European PVC industry has set clear and ambitious goals and we are well on our way to achieving them.”

Presenting the 2017 results, VinylPlus General Manager Brigitte Dero highlighted key achievements within the VinylPlus framework, which included the recycling of 639,648 tonnes of PVC last year – almost 80% of the 2020 target. Recovinyl remained the main contributor, registering 633,127 tonnes of recycled PVC, with increased volumes recorded in France and Italy. Cumulatively, 4.2 million tonnes of PVC have been recycled since 2000.

She added: “With the adoption of the European Commission’s ‘Strategy for Plastics in the Circular Economy’, recycling is gaining a more prominent place and will have a strong influence on the entire plastics value chain.”

Another major achievement in 2017 was the implementation for the window profile sector of the VinylPlus Product Label, a sustainability labelling scheme for PVC products, developed in cooperation with BRE Global (Building Research Establishment) and the Natural Step (TNS), and launched in March 2018, with support from EPPA (European PVC Window Profile and Related Building Products Association).

VinylPlus is the Voluntary Commitment of the European PVC industry. The programme establishes a long-term framework for the sustainable development of the PVC industry by tackling a number of critical challenges in the EU-28, Norway and Switzerland. 

www.vinylplus.eu