PVC’s environmental performance has improved, according to the latest study by the European association of plastics manufacturers, PlasticsEurope (Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticseurope.org). Published new data shows that the global warming potential of PVC and its feedstock VCM decreased by about 2-3% from 2006 to 2015.

This reduction is largely attributed to more efficient energy use in production processes, as well as investment in modern manufacturing plant and processing equipment with additional heat and energy recovery capabilities.

This is PlasticsEurope’s fourth full PVC inventory and is based on 2013 data collected from members of the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM) by life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioner Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU, Heidelberg / Germany; www.ifeu.org). The data included production of VCM, and suspension and emulsion PVC, in countries including Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. This was then compared with the dataset from 2006.

Arjan Sevenster, ECVM’s technical and environmental affairs manager, said the dataset is “assessed to be a reliable and high-quality representation of VCM, S-PVC and E-PVC produced in Europe.” He added: “In general, better production processes are reducing the environmental impact of PVC manufacturing.”

PlasticsEurope’s eco-profiles provide detailed cradle-to-gate life cycle inventories covering all production stages from extracting raw materials through to shipping product from the manufacturing site. To date, it has published more than 70 eco-profiles covering all the main polymers.