This year, the 11th VinylPlus Sustainability Forum (VSF2023) held in Florence, Italy was attended by more than 160 delegates from 21 countries. The gathering provided the opportunity for the industry both to look back at the progress and achievements of the European PVC industry in 2022 and to look ahead at the actions needed to make the EU Green Deal happen.
Opening the VSF2023, Karl-Martin Schellerer, Chairman of VinylPlus, called 2022 ‘a year with major milestones towards the 2030 sustainability commitment’.
Throughout 2022, 813,266 tonnes of PVC waste were recycled within the VinylPlus framework, representing around 27% of the total PVC waste generated that year in the EU-27, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. The result brings the amount of PVC recycled and reused in new products since 2000 to aa total of 8.1 million tonnes. Moreover, the industry has invested heavily in research and development projects aimed at removing legacy additives from waste and increasing chemical recycling of PVC waste that cannot be mechanically recycled in an eco-efficient manner. As well, VinylPlus is encouraging the broader use of the Additive Sustainability Footprint methodology, which enables companies to proactively assess and promote the sustainable production and use of PVC additives throughout the entire product lifecycles, in order to avoid problems in the future.
Other milestones included initiatives aimed at supporting member companies’ efforts in reducing water and energy consumption, increasing the use of renewable energy and raw material, and minimising any accidental spillage of PVC into water and the environment; and an update of the VinylPlus Product Label, the sustainability certification for PVC products for the Building and Construction sector. Schellerer also noted that the first five companies have obtained the VinylPlus Supplier Certificates, the sustainability certifications for additives suppliers and compounders.
The conference also offered room for debate, with sessions focused, among others, on the upcoming European policy initiatives on plastics and PVC and the regulatory challenges of the EU legislative framework.
“The European Chemicals Agency’s objective – observed Simone Doyle, head of Risk Management Unit at ECHA – is to implement legislation to ensure the protection of human health and the environment and we look at chemicals more holistically, across lifecycles in a less fragmented way, also considering sustainability.”
The event’s second session focused on accelerating circularity in building and construction. Discussions revolved around the Construction Product Regulation, currently under revision, and to the implementation of the Eco-Design for Sustainable Products Regulation, as well as architects’ and industry’s perspectives on how circularity in construction can be achieved.
