PVC recycling in Europe reached nearly 640,000 t in 2017, helped by increased recycling in France and Italy, according to the European PVC industry's sustainable development programme VinylPlus (Brussels / Belgium; www.vinylplus.eu). Some 639,648 t of PVC was recycled as part of the VinylPlus programme, compared with 568,696 t in 2016 (see Plasteurope.com of 11.05.2017).

VinylPlus said there was a moderate but continuous increase in volumes in nearly all European countries last year. “During 2017, the biggest recycling markets registered different trends: volumes increased in France and Italy; the market remained almost stable in Germany; and recyclers reported a shortage of post-consumer window profiles for recycling in the UK,” it said in its 2018 progress report. This report summarises VinylPlus’ progress in 2017 in five key sustainability challenges identified for PVC in the European PVC industry's voluntary commitments based on NGO The Natural Step's (www.thenaturalstep.org) system conditions of a sustainable society.

Window profiles and related products accounted for the majority of the recycled PVC, followed by: flexible PVC and films, pipes and fittings, and cables. About 300,000 t of window profiles and related building products were recycled in 2017, with about 40% recycled in Germany, 30% in the UK and 30% in the rest of the EU-28, according to the European PVC Window Profile and Related Building Products Association (EPPA, Brussels; www.eppa-profiles.eu).

Presenting the results at VinylPlus’ "Sustainability Forum 2018" in Madrid / Spain in mid-May, VinylPlus general manager Brigitte Dero said the 639,648 t of PVC recycled last year represents almost 80% of the 2020 target. “With the adoption of the [European Commission’s] ‘Strategy for plastics in the circular economy’ [see Plasteurope.com Web of 25.05.2018], recycling is gaining a more prominent place and will have a strong influence on the entire plastics value chain,” she commented.

Another achievement in 2017, Dero said, was the implementation for the window profile sector of the VinylPlus product label, a sustainability labelling scheme for PVC products, developed in cooperation with UK certification body BRE Global (www.bre.co.uk) and The Natural Step, and launched in March 2018, with support from the EPPA. The label focuses on PVC applications for the building and construction sector, with the aim of helping specifiers, consumers and procurement decision makers to identify PVC products and solutions that better contribute to sustainable development.

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VinylPlus' “Progress Report 2018” as a PDF file