The Vinyl Council of Australia (VCA) and the United States Vinyl Sustainability Council (VSC) are jointly examining the possibility of establishing a deeper level of collaboration. The two organisations today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to explore a ‘pathway to reciprocity’ between the two sustainability programs by ‘sharing best practices and collaborating on sustainability program development’.
Working together on the VCA’s PVC Stewardship Program and VSC’s +Vantage Vinyl would serve to promote global harmonisation and could increase industry participation in these sustainability programmes, the organisations said.
“While circumstances vary regionally, sustainability is a global issue and vinyl products participate in a global market,” said Sophi MacMillan, VCA Chief Executive.
Companies participating in the PVC Stewardship Program and +Vantage Vinyl programs agree to transparent voluntary commitments and guiding principles of sustainability that are measured and reported on an annual basis. The programmes are designed to be inclusive for companies at any stage of the sustainability journey but encourage continuous improvement. The overall performance of member companies is reflected in annual sustainability reporting.
Cooperation between programmes can foster the sharing of best practices between member companies, leading to improvements throughout the industry
“Many of our members do business throughout the world,” said Jay Thomas, VSC Executive Director. “Developing a pathway to reciprocity between the various sustainability programs will foster progress by easing the administration burden on companies and encouraging more participation. Increased program participation is a key factor in advancing the sustainability of the industry.”