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» SECOND ONLY TO Germany , the UK ’ s achievement represents 18.6 % of the 771,313 tonnes of waste PVC recycled throughout Europe in 2019 – a new record high and 4.3 % up on the previous year . Window profiles and related building products account for 47 % of the total PVC recycled across Europe .
Recovinyl ®, the PVC industry ’ s recycling scheme , was the largest contributor to this total and registered a total of 769,233 tonnes of PVC waste entirely recycled in Europe in 2019 .
In 2019 , 13 new recyclers joined the Recovinyl network .
Demand for recycled rigid PVC remained very high . At the same time , more PVC waste was available from cables – particularly in the Czech Republic , France , Germany , Poland and the UK – due to reduced exports to China .
Industry concern continues over changes to the Basel Convention , an international treaty governing shipments of hazardous waste , that has deemed PVC to be a ‘ notifiable ’ waste .
This would create more paperwork and cost for UK-based suppliers , making the import and export of waste PVC between the UK to the EU more difficult .
Changes to the Convention , which will come into effect from 1 January 2021 , will see nonhazardous plastic waste that is not recyclable or is ‘ difficult ’ to recycle categorised as waste requiring ‘ special consideration ’ and listed in the Convention ’ s Annex II .
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Some single polymer plastic wastes , such as PET and PP , are exempt , whereas PVC is not .
Richard McKinlay , Head of Consulting at resource recovery specialist Axion , Recovinyl ’ s Regional Representative for the UK argues that this is not justified for PVC as it is a highly recyclable material , as demonstrated by the success of the Recovinyl scheme throughout Europe and other projects like RecoMed , the medical PVC recycling scheme .
He says : “ Under the Convention rules , PET is ‘ green-listed ’, even though in reality PVC is much more widely recycled than PET and the recyclate used widely in durable and long-life products , for example in the building and construction sectors .”
While the UK has a wellestablished PVC recycling infrastructure , especially for
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window profiles , Richard explains that much cable waste from Europe is imported for use in traffic management products and that this supply chain is needed to maintain production . Current uncertainty could mean UK manufacturers losing out on useful raw materials .
He adds : “ Recovinyl continues to grow and satisfy the huge demand for recycled PVC in the UK and across Europe . Recycling is the best environmental solution for PVC as it can be readily recycled . It ’ s right that we continue to use this valuable raw material resource in new products and set an example for the treatment of other waste construction materials .”
Simon Scholes , Managing Director of VEKA Recycling comments that while the legislation will mean more paperwork , it also forces the
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industry to be ‘ more professional ’ and offer a reliable and sustainable service to companies handling waste PVC .
He continues : “ The industry in general has stepped up and made PVC recycling happen . What we ’ re doing is still right and significant investment has gone into recycling this material to a quality ready to be re-used in new long-life products . This is something to be encouraged , not discouraged .”
Simon adds : “ As an industry , of course we will overcome these future hurdles . We ’ ve invested too much time , money and passion not to make it succeed .”
Cumulatively , 5.7 million tonnes of PVC have been recycled within the Vinyl 2010 and VinylPlus frameworks across Europe since 2000 , preventing the release of 11.4 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere . Check out your nearest Recovinyl recycler at https :// recovinyl . com / allrecyclers
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