UK hits record high for PVC recycling
29th August 2017

PVC recycling in the UK reached a new high of 120,392 tonnes last year, nearly 12% more than in 2015 and representing over 21% of the whole of Europe, according to latest figures from Recovinyl.

Waste PVC-U profiles comprised 62% of the UK's recycling achievement in 2016, with pipes, rigid and flexible PVC films and cables making up the rest.

Jane Gardner, Project Manager of Axion, Recovinyl's UK agent, said: "The recycling of PVC is maintaining an upward trend thanks to on-going investment in recycling infrastructure and strong commitment from the sector. ItÕs a significant achievement that demonstrates the sustainability of this readily-recyclable material."

The announcement comes soon after VinylPlus, the Europe-wide PVC recycling platform revealed a record annual output of 568,696 tonnes scross all of its member countries Read Story.

Recovinyl says a major factor driving the recycling success is increasing demand from manufacturers for good quality recycled material. Capable of being recycled up to seven times without any loss of performance, PVC can be reused in many diverse new and long-life products from construction products such as windows to flooring and electrical components.

Cumulatively, some 3.5 million tonnes of PVC has been recycled through the Vinyl 2010 and VinylPlus frameworks across Europe since 2000.

Further recycling initiatives for PVC have been established in the UK, such as the collection of single-use waste PVC medical devices via RecoMed. RecoMed is funded by VinylPlus and undertaken jointly by Axion and the British Plastics Federation.

www.recovinyl.com