VinylPlus®, the Voluntary Commitment to sustainable development of the European PVC industry, recycled 739,525 tonnes of PVC within its framework in 2018 – a 15.6% increase on the previous year. The results were presented at the 2019 edition of the VinylPlus Sustainability Forum in Prague, Czech Republic, where the industry shared further progress towards increasing the sustainability performance of PVC.
Held on May 9th and 10th, this year’s theme ‘Accelerating Innovation’ examined the challenges and opportunities presented by new technologies in shaping the PVC sector’s future in the context of the circular economy.
The Forum attracted more than 170 participants from 32 countries including representatives from the European Commission, European Parliament, the Czech Ministry of Environment, the United Nations, NGOs, academia, specifiers, designers, recyclers and the PVC value chain. Presentations and panel discussions by top-level experts revolved around the three sustainability pillars - economic, social and environmental - and how innovation is impacting the PVC industry and its journey to sustainable development.
Despite regulatory constraints, VinylPlus General Manager Brigitte Dero announced that the PVC industry recycled an all-time high of nearly 740,000 tonnes – 92.4% of the VinylPlus’ 2020 target. Recovinyl remains the main contributor, registering 734,568 tonnes of recycled PVC. Cumulatively, almost 5 million tonnes of PVC have been recycled since 2000.
Reflecting on the Forum, Brigitte Dero concluded: “For almost 20 years, VinylPlus has led the way towards a circular economy by improving the sustainability performance of PVC. By forging ever-greater collaborations and partnerships in pursuit of our sustainability goals, we will take our industry voluntary commitment to ever greater heights.”
For more information on VinylPlus’ achievements in 2018, check our Progress Report 2019 at https://vinylplus.eu/documents/51/59/VinylPlus-Progress-Report-2019.