The collection and recycling of waste PVC in the UK reached a new high of 120,392 tonnes in 2016, according to latest figures from Recovinyl, the PVC industry's recycling scheme.
The figure shows an increase of 12% compared to the previous year.
According to Recovinyl figures, window profiles recycled throughout the year represented the equivalent to more than five million window frames, which could glaze roughly over 500,000 houses.
UK's recycling sector contributed to 21% of total European recycling, which stood at 560,500 tonnes from 18 states.
Recovinyl is the organisation aimed at facilitating PVC waste collection and recycling within the VinylPlus framework of the European PVC industry's voluntary commitments.
The programme is tackling the sustainability challenges for PVC and delivery of current recycling targets to 2020.
Waste PVC-U profiles comprised 62% of the UK's recycling achievement in 2016, with pipes, rigid and flexible PVC films and cables making up the rest.
“The recycling of PVC is maintaining an upward trend thanks to on-going investment in recycling infrastructure and strong commitment from the sector. It's a significant achievement that demonstrates the sustainability of this readily-recyclable material,” said project manager Jane Gardner of Axion, Recovinyl's UK agents.
Cumulatively, some 3.5 million tonnes of PVC has been recycled through the Vinyl 2010 and VinylPlus frameworks across Europe since 2000.
Further recycling initiatives for PVC have been established in the UK, such as the collection of single-use waste PVC medical devices via RecoMed. RecoMed is funded by VinylPlus and undertaken jointly by Axion and the British Plastics Federation.
Axion is part of the Axion Group that develops and optimises processing and collection methods to recover value from waste resources.