UK: Recovinyl to recycle 50,000 tonnes of PVC in 2011

LONDON (Commodity Online): PVC recycling in the UK continues to move in the right direction with more than 50,000 tonnes of material expected to be recycled by the end of 2011, according to Recovinyl.

Jane Gardner, of Axion Consulting, Recovinyl’s UK agents, said the PVC industry’s recycling initiative is set to beat the 49,343 tonnes of post-consumer PVC recycled last year in the UK through its 26 specialist recyclers.

Speaking at a recent British Plastics Federation (BPF) recycling seminar, Jane said that Recovinyl is now positioned strongly to build on its Vinyl 2010 achievements and co-ordinate delivery of fresh targets to 2020 under the new Vinyl Plus voluntary commitment.

These targets include 800,000 tonnes to be re-used in all European countries by 2020 - with 700,000 tonnes mechanically recycled and the rest using new technologies for more difficult-to-recycle or contaminated PVC. “While these targets are ambitious, Recovinyl has demonstrated proven success under Vinyl 2010; particularly in the UK which, as a star performer, has contributed to 20% of overall EU PVC recycling so far,” commented Jane. Last year, 254,000 tonnes of PVC was recycled in Europe through Recovinyl – easily beating its original 200,000 tonnes target by 2010.

Moving forward, Jane explained there would be a shift towards a ‘pull’ market involving both the existing recycling network and convertors, who will be encouraged to increase the use of recyclate in their products. This is already happening with recycled PVC-U being used in new window profiles, reinforcements and fascia products.

There will also be greater focus on the quality of recyclate produced and a move towards a certification process. Jane concluded: “Although a new programme for Recovinyl to deliver these targets is still being finalised, the PVC industry continues to work with the value chain to achieve sustainability. “Recovinyl has been a tremendous boost for the PVC industry in promoting the sustainability of PVC-U, which can be recycled many times without losing performance. Encouraging more companies to recycle, rather than landfill, their PVC waste has great economic and environmental benefits.” Part of the Axion Group, Axion Consulting develops and optimises processing and collection methods to recover value from waste resources for a wide range of clients within the recycling and process industries.