Recovinyl, a European organization that is focused on the recycling of PVC in Europe, reports that its member companies exceeded Recovinyl’s goal of collecting 240,000 metric tons of used PVC in Europe in 2010. For the year, a total of 254,814 metric tons of PVC was collected for recycling.
Recovinyl provides financial incentives to support the collection of PVC scrap from the non-regulated PVC waste streams. Its aim is to ensure a steady supply of post-consumer PVC waste for recycling in Europe. Materials collected and recycled through Recovinyl’s program included window profiles, pipes, cables and flexible and rigid PVC.
The organization says that PVC recycling in the United Kingdom led the way, with the country contributing around 20 percent (49,343 metric tons) of the post-consumer PVC collected in Europe last year.
David Wiles and Jane Gardner, of Axion Consulting, Recovinyl’s U.K. agents, say the figures show that Recovinyl has achieved its original aims of developing markets for post-consumer PVC recyclate in the U.K. and promoting the collection, recycling and re-use of the material.
“It’s a tremendous result and what has really helped us to deliver this target in the U.K. is the strong co-operation between everyone involved in the PVC industry here, along with the valuable coordinating role played by the BPF,” says Wiles.
A Recovinyl release also notes that the success of the PVC recycling program has created another industry initiative managed by Axion – Recofloor, a vinyl flooring recycling program founded by the flooring manufacturers, Altro and Polyflor. “Both projects are of huge benefit to manufacturers who can demonstrate a sustainable approach to production of new goods made from genuinely-recyclable raw materials,” says Axion’s Gardner.
Recovinyl is established in 16 countries across Europe. In April, the European PVC industry will announce its plans for its next ten-year voluntary program, building on the Vinyl 2010 and Recovinyl achievements. The program will be outlined at PVC 2011 on April 12th.
For more information, contact Axion Consulting on 0161 426 7731 or visit the website at www.axionconsulting.co.uk.