US chemicals and building products company Axiall (Atlanta, Georgia; www.axiallcorp.com) has introduced its “Aspire” range of phthalate-free, bio-based flexible vinyl compounds. The company says the materials offer improved performance at a price that is equal to non-sustainable alternatives.

According to the company, the materials utilise bio-based plasticisers derived from renewable resources and include sustainable aspects such as organic-based stabilisers free of heavy metals; low VOCs, passing Underwriters Laboratories’ (www.ul.com) “Greenguard” Indoor Air Quality Certification as well as the "Greenguard" Children and Schools Certification; high renewable carbon content which meets the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) “BioPreferred” programme requirements with over 25% renewable content and, finally, a reduced carbon footprint with analysis showing lower CO₂ emissions and improved environmental impact compared with phthalate-based plasticisers.

In addition to offering improvements in overall sustainability, Axiall says physical property comparisons of the compounds and phthalate-based compounds indicate better performance in low-temperature applications, dynamic thermal stability and colour retention and outdoor weathering.

Axiall was previously known as the US PVC producer Georgia Gulf (Atlanta, Georgia; www.ggc.com). The renaming ocurred following Georgia Gulf’s merger with the US commodity chemicals business of PPG Industries (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; www.ppg.com) – see Plasteurope.com from 18.01.2013.