On April 12, during the 11th International PVC Conference in Brighton, England, the European PVC industry presented the final Progress Report on Vinyl 2010 - the ten year voluntary commitment launched in 2000 to enhance the sustainable production and use of PVC.
The report highlights the huge advances made by the industry over the past decade in waste management, innovative recycling technologies, stakeholder engagement and responsible use of additives.
Vinyl 2010 has succeeded in meeting all of the targets set by the industry in 2000. As it comes to an end, a new industry commitment towards sustainability will be launched later in 2011 which will require the ongoing active support of the PVC value chain and of a wide range of other stakeholders in the public and private sector.
In 1999 there was no infrastructure for recycling PVC in Europe and it was dismissed by many as an "unrecyclable" material. Today, the audit results show that in the last year alone 260,842 tonnes of unregulated post-consumer PVC waste were recycled by Vinyl 2010's network of PVC recyclers across Europe - well beyond the initial goal of recycling an additional 200,000 tonnes yearly by 2010.
The final Progress Report also confirms that the phase-out and replacement of certain additives from the PVC production process is ahead of schedule across the EU - with cadmium phased out quickly, and lead substitution well ahead of schedule and fully on track to be replaced completely by 2015.
Other achievements of note include the ongoing development of innovative new technologies to expand the scope and volume of PVC recycling and the launch of a number of multi-stakeholder platforms to discuss and promote sustainable resource management.