Towards a circular economy

The PVC industry is making real progress towards sustainability and a positive contribution to the circular economy through a united industry approach, delegates heard at the fifth VinylPlus Sustainability Forum 2017 in Berlin, Germany.

Organised by VinylPlus, the European PVC industry sustainability programme, this year’s forum held on May 10-11 took the theme of ‘Towards Circular Economy’ and explored the many growing opportunities for the PVC sector to contribute to this key objective of EU policy.

Against a backdrop of important decisions being taken on the European Commission’s Circular Economy Package, presentations and panel discussions from high-level speakers focussed on how the vinyl industry is tackling key sustainability issues, such as legacy additives in recycled PVC, and contributing to a stronger circular flow of resources.

The forum attracted more than 170 stakeholders from 30 countries representing academia, government bodies, the UN, the European Commission, specifiers, designers, architects and all sectors of the PVC industry.

VinylPlus chairman Josef Ertl called on political leaders to work closely with the PVC industry to analyse the potential impacts of any decisions that might affect the PVC sector.

VinylPlus general manager Brigitte Dero highlighted the achievements of a ‘united PVC value chain’ within the VinylPlus framework, which included the recycling of 568,696 tonnes of PVC last year. A cumulative total of more than 3.5 million tonnes of PVC has been recycled since 2000 thanks to the efforts of VinylPlus.