By Marilyn Gerlach

The total amount of PVC waste recycled in Europe last year declined 9.3% to 737,645 t from 813,266 t in 2022, with window profiles accounting for 391,093 t (53%), according to the Progress Report 2024 published by VinylPlus (Brussels; www.vinylplus.eu).

VinylPlus, the European PVC industry’s sustainable development programme, works to improve recycling of vinyl products such as window frames, pipes, flooring, and cables. It supports the goal of the European plastics industry to use 10 mn t of recycled plastics in new products in Europe by 2025.

It said of the volume recycled last year, 61.7% was pre-consumer waste and 38.3% post-consumer waste. The amount of PVC waste recycled represented around 24.3% of the total PVC waste generated in 2023 in the EU-27, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK.

Unrelated to industry’s best efforts, the report said recycled PVC volumes decreased due to several factors including the persistent competitive prices of virgin material, low-priced imports, the current economic downturn in the building and construction sector, and the impact of European regulations on legacy additives.

Related: ECHA report on additives could prompt new regs, VinylPlus addresses concerns

In 2023, recycling and converting activity in the PVC sector slowed down overall in Europe. The drop applied both to pre-consumer recycling (post-industrial waste), where lower industrial production reduced the amount of waste available, and to post-consumer recycling, which was significantly affected by a decline in the construction industry. The flooring and pipes sectors registered the most consistent drop, particularly in pre-consumer waste recycling, it noted.

Demand for rPVC fell 12.5% year-on-year, confirming what it said to be the trend that began in the last quarter of 2022. The report noted that the weakening trend was possibly also due to extremely high energy costs.

The registered uptake of rPVC from converters was 469,916 t in 2023, a 16.4% decrease compared to 2022, according to VinylPlus. Of this total volume, windows and profiles converters were the biggest users in terms of application, with a combined uptake totalling 182,672 t, followed by floor covering at 122,009 t.

The report said that around 1.6 mn t of plastics waste was reported as net input to European recyclers. PVC waste was the most represented in the reported quantities, at about 49.8%, followed by polyolefins.

The European recyclers reported output of around 1.4 mn t of recycled plastics, of which PVC accounted for 54.1% followed by polyolefins.

In terms of conversion of recycled plastics into new products, VinylPlus said participating companies reported an output of 571,800 t, mostly PVC (80.3%). Building and construction applications account for some 60% of the reported quantities, and packaging 12.5%. It noted that the data collection platform involved 301 plants in 23 European countries.

In a separate statement, VinylPlus said attendees at the 12th VinylPlus Sustainability Forum on 23 May 2024 debated on key topics such as life cycle assessments, whole life carbon and chemical recycling technologies.

It quoted VinylPlus chairman Karl-Martin Schellerer as saying that 2023 was a “very demanding year” as the PVC industry continued to face “unprecedented regulatory and macroeconomic challenges.” This, he noted, had an impact on PVC recycling and demand for recyclates. 

Despite a “significant drop in PVC demand”, Schellerer said the volume of PVC waste recycled within the VinylPlus framework had a “slight decrease” in 2023 compared to 2022. “Yet at the same time, the share of recycled and registered post-consumer and pre-consumer waste remained stable,” he noted.