PVC sustainable development

PVC sustainable development despite the Global Recession

The European PVC industry released its latest annual Vinyl 2010 Progress Report at Identiplast in Brussels. The report confirms that the PVC industry’s sustainable development initiative is definitely on track to achieve its Voluntary Commitment 10-year targets.

The audited results show that 194,950 tonnes of PVC were recycled in 2008, a year-on-year 30% increase on the levels for post-consumer PVC recycling. The replacement of lead-based stabilisers surpassed 50 percent, two years ahead of its 2010 commitment.

“This clearly demonstrates the continuing effectiveness of our Voluntary Commitment,” says Jean-Pierre De Grève, General Manager of Vinyl 2010. “Our promise to replace the use of lead-based additives is well ahead of schedule. In the area of end-of-life waste management, perhaps what is more important for the long-term sustainability of the industry than the symbolic goal of achieving 200,000 tonnes of additional post-consumer waste recycling each year by 2010, is the consolidation of a network of PVC recyclers across Europe”.

The results reported in the 2009 Vinyl 2010 Progress Report provide positive news for the European PVC sector which, like the rest of industry, has been badly hit since the end of 2008 by the ongoing global recession.

“We are clearly in difficult times,” says Dr Helmuth Leitner, the General Manager for the PVC resin producers association ECVM (European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers) one of the partners in Vinyl 2010. “This is also true for both the recycling and the other materials businesses. But our industry remains resolute in its determination to demonstrate that PVC offers the potential to help society to develop and achieve a more sustainable future”.

Vinyl 2010 was set up and is run by the four associations which represent the European PVC industry: the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM), the European Plastics Converters (EuPC), the European Stabiliser Producers Association (ESPA) and the European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates (ECPI).

In the words of SGS, the independent Progress Report auditors, “eight years with comprehensive work demonstrates the industry’s willingness to meet its commitments within environmental sustainability. It should also be mentioned that the industry shows an open and proactive attitude to encourage an ongoing dialogue with its stakeholders (represented in its Monitoring Committee)”.

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