NEWS


VinylPlus moves closer to its PVC recycling goal with 12% rise


PVC recycling in Europe rose by 12% last year, to reach almost 640,000 tonnes. VinylPlus, the PVC


industry’s programme to boost sustainability, said this puts it 80% of the way towards its target of recycling 800,000 tonnes/year of PVC by 2020. The figures were revealed in the VinylPlus 2018 progress report, which reports on 2017 activities. The main contributor to


the total, with more than 633,000 tonnes, was Recovinyl – the organisation that facilitates PVC recycling under the VinylPlus scheme. Recovinyl recorded in-


creased recycling volumes in France and Italy last year, and steady levels in Ger- many, said VinylPlus. The rest of the material was collected through sectoral organisations for specific types of product such as roofing and waterproof membranes, and both rigid and flexible films. Recycling of coated


fabrics – collected under the Epcoat project – rose by 10% to exceed 9,000 tonnes in 2017.


At the same time,


recycling of rigid and flexible PVC was combined into a single category. Overall, collection in this


category rose almost 3% to almost 114,000 tonnes. Part of the flexible PVC


recovered overlapped with efforts to recycle roofing membranes (as part of the RoofCollect programme, run by ESWA). Here, overall collection grew by around 28,000 tonnes to reach almost 118,000 tonnes (an increase of 28%).


One setback to the future


recycling of flexible PVC is the recent closure of the VinyLoop Ferrara plant in Italy – which recycles up to 10,000 tonnes/year of PVC (see story below). A report from German consultancy Conversion,


commissioned by VinylPlus, estimated a total of 2.5m tonnes of PVC waste available in Europe in 2016 – meaning that the industry has managed to recycle around 25% of this. Cumula- tively, 4.2 million tonnes of PVC have been recycled since 2000, said VinylPlus. “Our voluntary commit- ment does more than contribute to the circular economy,” said Brigitte Dero, general manager of Vinyl- Plus. “It also tackles other sustainable development themes, including energy and climate change, and responsible use of additives.” � www.vinylplus.org


Vinyloop closes PVC recycling plant in Italy


The VinyLoop plant is to close after 16 years of operation


VinyLoop Ferrara, the Italy-based PVC recycling specialist, has closed operations with immediate effect. The company, a 60/40 joint


venture between Inovyn and Texyloop, has seen a collapse in demand for its VinyLoop R- PVC product due mainly to increasing product regulation. “Despite every effort to sustain the loss-making business over the last 15 years, demand for Vinyloop R-PVC has recently collapsed, and we have concluded that ongoing operation is no longer sustain- able,” said Francesco Tarantino, VinyLoop general manager. “This has been driven primarily by tighter regulations relating to Vinyloop R-PVC that contains DEHP plasticiser.” The plant at Ferrara, which opened in 2002, used a physical,


6 FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | July/August 2018


solvent-based process to handle around 10,000 tonnes/year of PVC products – such as tarpaulins – that are difficult to recycle by traditional means. The recycled material was made into a variety of products including garden hoses, geomem- branes and shoe components. Inovyn said it did not make economic sense “to continue supporting this specialised PVC recycling activity”, while Texyloop lacked the industrial knowledge to continue on its own. The company – which employs around 17 people – has now been liquidated, and will begin a process to carry out a “safe closure of the plant”. “A detailed closure plan will now be prepared in discussion with the Trade Unions and employ- ee representatives,” said Tarantino. � www.vinyloop.com


www.filmandsheet.com


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