The European PVC industry recycled 771,313 tonnes of PVC in 2019 - more than 96% of the programme’s 2020 target, according to VinylPlus, the Voluntary Commitment to sustainable development of the European PVC industry, who presented the figures in its 2020 Progress Report launched today.
The PVC industry is well on track to meet VinylPlus’ ever more challenging recycling targets for 2025, in line with the Circular Economy and the ambition of the Circular Plastics Alliance.
“Over the last 20 years, VinylPlus has worked tirelessly to tackle the challenges of circularity. We continuously aim to improve our sustainability performance embracing the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan and other policy initiatives impacting the plastics sector,” said Brigitte Dero, Managing Director of VinylPlus.
“With the culmination of VinylPlus in sight, we are engaging further with our partners and stakeholders in a dialogue to build the new VinylPlus programme towards 2030 that will be launched in May 2021.”
Through its Voluntary Commitment, the European PVC industry has recycled 5.7 million tonnes of PVC since 2000, preventing the release of 11.4 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. In 2019 alone, 771,313 tonnes of PVC were recycled - more than 96% of the programme’s 2020 target.
Following the European Commission’s pledging call for the entire plastics industry to boost recycling, VinylPlus has committed to recycling at least 900,000 tonnes of PVC per year into new products by 2025 – to fulfill the ambitions of Europe’s Circular Economy strategy and the aspirations of the cross-industry European Commission’s Circular Plastics Alliance.
The voluntary programme is supervised by a monitoring committee composed of representatives of the EU Parliament, the EU Commission, trade unions, consumer organisations and academia, to ensure transparency, participation and accountability.
Next to the circular economy, VinylPlus also addresses other sustainability topics such as energy and climate change, sustainable material sourcing and production and the responsible use of additives. It has established a sustainability certification scheme for PVC products in the building and construction sector delivering the highest sustainability performance and contribution to the Circular Economy, called the VinylPlus Product Label.
Another integral part of the programme concerns worker health and education.