VinylPlus recycled 514,913 tons of PVC within its framework last year

03-Jun-16

The European PVC industry sustainable development programme- VinylPlus, recycled 514,913 tons of PVC within its framework last year. The 2015 results were presented at its 4th Vinyl Sustainability Forum 2016 in Vienna, Austria where the industry shared its major successes, notably the replacement of lead-based stabilisers in the EU-28 market. Welcoming delegates, VinylPlus Chairman Josef Ertl said: “European cities are forerunners in the transition towards a low carbon and resource-efficient economy. 72% of the EU population lives in urban areas, using 70% of our energy. To assure quality of life, future cities will need healthy and energy-efficient buildings, reliable water distribution and sewage systems, as well as affordable healthcare. Using PVC in place of other materials reduces costs, improves product performance and makes a positive contribution to sustainable development.” Josef Ertl. Stephan Sicars, Director Department of Environment, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) said: “The shift of emphasis to designing products and processes for sustainability offers the plastics and PVC industry many opportunities to capitalise on innovation, as well as consumer demands for better environmental performance and smaller environmental footprint of products. These trends are said to allow USD 3 trillion in potential resource savings by 2030 amid an emerging USD 1 trillion global ‘green’ market. A circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design. The PVC production chain is making progress globally by reducing its environmental impact in areas such as chlor-alkaline production, energy and mercury use and VCM production. In addition, there are excellent developments in different regions and in Europe, especially. In 2015, VinylPlus recycled 514,913 tons of PVC waste – an upward recycling trend of which window profiles and related profile products accounted for around 45%. The greatest volumes - 508,154 tons – were registered and certified by Recovinyl , the PVC waste collection and recycling network comprising 177 companies Europe-wide. The target is to recycle 800,000 tons per year by 2020. VinylPlus reaffirmed its commitment to addressing the issue of ‘legacy additives’ in recycled PVC in cooperation with regulatory authorities and is calling to propose realistic solutions for the continuation and development of PVC recycling, taking into account its resource efficiency benefits.