PVC waste.
Recovinyl has announced the PVC industry’s recycling scheme results for 2014, and the UK has emerged as the star performer.
The operational arm of VinylPlus, confirmed the UK contributed just over 20 per cent, or 95,525 tonnes of waste to the total amount last year.
A total of 474,411 tonnes was recycled by the 16 European member countries through Recovinyl in 2014.
Waste PVC-U profiles comprised just over half of the UK’s recycling achievement in 2014, with pipes, rigid and flexible PVC films and cables making up the rest.
Project Manager Jane Gardner of Axion Consulting, Recovinyl’s UK agent, said: “PVC recycling continues to grow, as revealed by these latest figures and the UK’s achievement is testament to both ongoing commitment from the sector and sustained investment in recycling infrastructure across the country.
“Good quality recycled material can be reused sustainably in so many diverse new products, from construction products such as windows, flooring and electrical components and the demand from manufacturers is continuing to grow.”
Potential new recycling opportunities for PVC include non-infectious medical PVC waste from hospitals, such as IV Fluid and oxygen bags.
This type of waste is the focus of a VinylPlus funded research project, RecoMed, undertaken jointly by Axion Consulting and the BPF Vinyls Group.
Jane adds: “RecoMed is a newly-launched initiative collecting and recycling PVC from non-pharmacologically active waste from hospitals.
“We welcome enquiries from organisations looking to explore these recycling options, such as medical and care organisations, as we expand this scheme.”